Danganronpa: Return to Despair
by FlashFire705
Summary: Welcome to Rising Angel Academy. This prestigious school has invited you and 15 others to attend and learn from the best teachers you could ask for. What could go wrong. Girls (8/8) Boys (8/8) Rating may change. SYOC closed.
1. Prologue

**Return to** **Despair**

Welcome to Rising Angel Academy, the twin facility to Hope's Peak Academy.  
Much like our sister school we teach our students skills and techniques that will help further them in life after school.  
However we only accept the best so our agents have been sent all over the world to gather the best in every field possible.  
If your the ultimate in your field then you have a place in our school.  
Welcome you 16 lucky students to our Academy  
Remember this is a safe school environment, nothing can possible go wrong.

* * *

The Mastermind let out a sigh as the survivors left the room to their choice.  
"That group was so boring, not even a day goes by and a murder happens."  
"Oh well murder is murder no matter how you put it and this was the intent."  
"Lets hope the next group is going to be more entertaining"  
The mastermind slowly began chuckling before it turned into a full on laugh echoing throughout the halls of the academy.

"Memory wipe 100% complete."  
The Mastermind looked at the computer screen as it flashed those exact words.  
A smile slowly crept on their face as the cogs in their head began to turn.  
The Mastermind quickly left the room they were in and entered another room.  
They walked slowly up to a pod that had an unconscious body in it.

The Mastermind cast one look at the person in the pod as if to judge the potential of the person.  
Then the Mastermind continued to look at the person and said "Shall we play a game."

* * *

The first thing I felt as I woke up was the massive headache I had.  
My head felt like it was hit with a locomotive train after being run over by a bus.  
I then opened my eyes to an unfamiliar sight before me.  
I was staring up at a plain white ceiling with light bulb attached to it.  
But more importantly I felt something under me that was soft and comfy.

I realized that I was laying down on a bed.  
I quickly got up and looked at my surrounding environment.  
There was a bed, a desk, a table and a bathroom.  
All things needed for a comfortable life.  
The more I looked around the more I realized that I've never been here before.

Yet I couldn't shake the sense of familiarity that this room was giving me.  
An uneasiness settled in me as my mind rushed to find an explanation.  
" I don't remember ever being here yet. "  
I tried to remember what happened before I woke up and then I realized that I couldn't remember anything.  
The last thing I remember was walking into Rising Angel Academy.

 **Flashback**

Hi my name is Kouki Yoshi, I'm age 16 and I've been invited to attend Rising Angel Academy.  
The reason for attending such a prestigious academy, simple, luck.  
I was randomly invited through a lottery that randomly picked a student from around the world to come here.  
This has earned me the title of Ultimate Lucky Student.  
Normally luck would not be a talent in any situation but I guess this is the exception.

Before we go any further I should introduce myself a bit more.  
I've got hazelnut hair that just stops above my shoulders and bangs that cover my forehead.  
I've got peach-like skin and dull green eyes however there is a scar that runs across my forehead that goes from eyebrow to eyebrow.  
I'm 5'8" in height and I'm lean and somewhat muscular though nothing dramatic.  
I typically wear beige cargo pants and a green shirt that has the words " Every journey starts with a step. " on its back.

I also typically wear grey tennis shoes, a silver watch and sunglasses on the top of my head.  
And I can't forget my lucky charm, my dog tags.  
These dog tags have on them my address and home phone just in case I need them.  
That pretty much covers everything physical about me.  
As for personality well people have often describe me as normal or helpful.

I often get into situations to help people since I've got plenty of time.  
I'm not easily shocked but I'm very jumpy in situations where I'm unsure and I sometimes act with violence though I will stop from punching whatever before real damage is done.  
I don't think bad of any people really, unless they abuse their power.  
I don't get angry under any other circumstances unless the person is abusing their power.  
I like to think every one is equal and should be treated such.

I'm also easily sidetracked if anything else catches my attention.  
I have a habit of crossing my fingers to bring me more good luck.  
I guess I rely on my luck a little too much.  
And that is me, just an average person who likes to help out others.  
But enough about me right now I'm about to take the most important steps in my life.

I stood in front of the doors to the school and the entrance feeling a little nervous about entering.  
Don't get me wrong I'm honored to be here but compared to all the Ultimates attending here, its easy to feel overwhelmed.  
Taking a breath I pushed opened the door and stepped inside.  
Then suddenly the world started to shift, swirl and melt over and over again before everything went black.

 **End Flashback**

And that is how I got here.  
So then why am I not in the entrance hall.  
Thoughts like that rushed through my mind as I struggled to remember what happened after I entered the entrance hall.  
But... nothing, that is all I remember.  
I began to panic wondering what else I forgot.  
" My name is Kouki Yoshi. " I said to myself.

Good, at least I knew what my name is.  
Wondering what other strange things happened to me I entered the bathroom to check.  
I stepped in front of the mirror.  
And I discovered that everything was exactly the same as it was when I entered the school  
" Well that's strange. " I muttered.

I walked out of the bathroom back into the bedroom.  
Then I noticed something on the desk.  
I walked over and discovered it was a note.  
It read _Come to the entrance hall at 8 am.  
_ I glanced at the clock that hung on my wall and it said the time is 7:55

" I guess I better get going, if anything this might give me some answers. " I said.  
So I exited my room and immediately I noticed that their were other doors with names and faces on them just like mine.  
" I know some of these names. " I muttered as a sense of familiarity washed over me.  
With that in mind I continued my way to the entrance hall and hopefully some answers.  
I entered the entrance hall to 15 other people gathered their.

" Who's that. "  
" I don't know. "  
" Do you think he's a student. "  
" Does he know anything about what happened to us. "  
And that's when I noticed a huge metal vault behind every one where normally doors would be.

" Hi everyone I was told to meet here at 8 but I guess I'm late. " I said.  
A girl in a red skirt, black leather boots and white dress shirt walked up to me.  
She studied me for a minute.  
While she was doing that I noticed several things about her.  
Her hair is jet black and long, long enough to reach past her shoulders.

Her eyes were brown and staring at me with curiosity.  
And her face was completely emotionless, like a featureless mask had been placed over her face.  
Finally she said " Let me guess you just woke up in a strange room with no recollection of how you got there and their was a note that said to come to the entrance hall at 8 am. "  
" Yeah, how did you know that? " I asked.  
" Because the same thing happened to us. " she replied.

" What?! " I asked with shock.  
" Its true one minute we entered Rising Angel Academy then we all woke up in different rooms and we don't know how we got their. "  
I was confused at the whole situation and I wanted more answers but my mind told me that I wouldn't like the answers given.  
One thing is for sure my life as I knew it was over and a new one had just begun.

As I stood their in front of a random group of strangers I realized one thing, I could not be more confused. Then there's the girl standing in front of me. Where do I even begin to describe her. After giving the bombshell information that we'd all woken in the almost exact same mysterious circumstances like it was a normal thing to say, she turned around and began addressing the group.

" Everyone now is not the time for discord, we all need to stand to united at least for the duration of time that we will be staying. " the girl said.

" Oh yeah, who died and made you in charge. " someone said.

" I don't see anyone else volunteering besides I'm the one who's best qualified to lead this group. " she she responded. As the girl said I couldn't help but get an arrogant feeling from her. Almost as if she thinks here abilities are superior to even other Ultimates. And yet I couldn't help but get the feeling that she didn't mean it like that. Like she hasn't has much social interaction.

" How can we even trust you if we don't even know who the person standing next to us is. " a voice said. I turned my head towards the voice and instantly recognized who she was. She was Aima Jespersen also known as the Ultimate Alpinist. She wore a white top with an unknown city, beige jeans and green converse all covering her thin, pale body. As I examined her more her stance told me she wasn't very comfortable being surrounded by a bunch of people.

" Very well then I guess well start building trust by introducing ourselves to each other. " the mysterious girl said.

" Tell us your name first. " Aima responded.

" Very well, my name is Serra Raven and I have the title of Ultimate Strategist. " she responded. As soon as she said her name I was filled with a sense of dread and admiration. Serra Raven is a world renowned strategist capable of beating high ranking generals in real life combat while playing against world renowned chess players for fun. They say her tactics are so brutal that even the most battle hardened veterans shake with fear but that's just a rumor, right? However seeing her in the flash made her a lot less intimidating.

Her white dress shirt and red skirt made her look like a normal school girl but I got the feeling that was just for show or to fool us to letting our guard down. Yet seeing her made her look like more of a person and not a myth.

" Now that I've introduced myself it shouldn't be that hard for everyone else to do the same. " Serra said. The act of her speaking seem to jolt everyone into action. Everyone started to move around and introducing themselves. Unsure of who to talk to or what I just stood their. " You know you can talk to me. " Serra said.

As if sensing my hesitation she added " I don't bite, promise. ". So I walked over to her and said " My name is Kouki Yoshi and I'm the Ultimate Luck Student. ".  
" Lucky student huh, hmm you given me something to think about. " she said. " Uhh, thank you. " I responded.

Serra then walked away to the other side of room and waited patiently for everyone to be finished. Well that was a short and strange conversation. Looking around for anyone to talk to I spotted Aima. So that's who I walked to next. " Hey. " she said.

" Hi, I'm Kouki Yoshi and I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student. " I said.

" Aima Jespersen, Ultimate Alpinist. " she said.

" I know. " I said. She then gave me an odd look. I then realized that I might have sounded a little like a stalker and I definitely sounded rude. " I mean I just looked up you all before I went to school because there were rumors that you would be going to Rising Angel and I was curious. " I said. That didn't sound like a stalker, right?

" Right, well it was nice meeting you. " She said.

Sensing that I should probably go I did just that. As far as first impressions went that wasn't bad. I began to look for another person to talk and found one. Or rather she found me.

" H-Hi my is Megan Winslow, nice to meet you. " the girl calling herself Megan said. Megan Winslow, the Ultimate Voodoo Doll Maker. They say the dolls she makes are so amazing people climb over them selves to get them. They also say that they that her dolls are cursed and that anyone who buys them will commit a crime, rumors probably. Thinking about it now I never had a good look at her so I stole a quick glance.

She wore an auburn, long sleeved dress with a white vest, peach colored sandals and a light red tie. Her hair was medium length and maroon color and her eyes were brown. Her skin was pale and there are light freckles on her face. I also her eyes shifting around nervously almost as if she was expecting something to jump out.

" Kouki Yoshi and its my pleasure. " I tried to say in a reassuring manner.

" Thanks and I'm not always a nervous wreck, just more times then I want to admit. " she said.

" It's okay we all have got stuff we do that we aren't exactly proud of. " I said again trying to reassure her.

" Don't worry about me I'm going to be more courageous in the future, that's a promise. " She said.

I could sense her strong determination in just those words alone but I also sensed some hesitation in her words. Almost like she knows she'll always know she be scared forever. I said goodbye to Megan and began looking for another person to talk to. Then I spotted Ramos Luciano. The guy was an impressive site.

Ramos wore a green jersey with 01 and Luciano on the back while the front had a shattered skull over his tanned skin. He also wore silver basketball shorts, white calf length socks with two green stripes on the top underneath white sneakers. His wavy brown hair extended to about above his shoulders. His height is actually pretty average but he is really muscular. Despite all this small bruises covered his body. Huh, must have fought someone before coming here.

Ramos turned towards me and walked over. As he got closer I noticed his dark drown eyes and a scar that goes through his left eyebrow. " Hello my name is Ramos Luciano, the Ultimate Boxer and I couldn't help but notice you look lonely. " he said

" Oh I'm not lonely just deep in thought. " I said.

" Well if you are ever lonely don't be afraid to hang out with me. " Ramos said.

" I will do that and my name is Kouki Yoshi. " I responded.

" Pleasure. " he said as he walked away.

" Whoa " I heard as I felt a force pushed me to the ground. The next moment I was on the floor, face down with something heavy on top of me.

As soon as it came, that heavy pressure got off my back. I looked up to see the embarrass face of the Ultimate DJ.

" Axel is very sorry for tripling onto you, you see Axel is clumsy but Axel doesn't trip onto people that much. " he said.

Axel Takashima, otherwise known as the Ultimate DJ. His mother is well known as an Idol in both the USA and Japan, rivaling even Sayaka Maizono in terms of popularity and skill. Axel's sudden rise in popularity from being a DJ at a lot parties for famous people such as Junko Enoshima and Sonia Nevermind, gained him a spot at Rising Angel Academy. He's got short spiky black hair with blue streaks, tan skin, and pink eyes. He wears a brown fedora, black headphones on his neck, a red jacket with the words Brooklyn on it with horns. He also wears a white t-shirt that says Nobodies perfect, an orange belt, blue jeans and black sneakers with blue shoe laces.

" Its okay accidents happen. " I said as I rubbed my back.

" Either way Axel is very sorry. " Axel said.

" Why do you speak in the third person? " I asked.

" Because it's a part of Axel's identity and no Axel will not stop speaking in the third person. " he said it like he'd asked that that a million times.

" Okay, we'll i was nice meeting you. " I said.

" Likewise. " Axel said.

I walked away slightly confused but for the most part feeling like I got a great friend. I was distracted enough that I bumped into someone.

" Sorry. " I muttered.

" Its okay I was going to talk to you next anyways. " the person I bumped into said.

" Huh. " I looked up and there was Dawson Tall, the Ultimate Caver standing in front of me. The guy wore layers let me tell you. He wore like two white shirts, a plain red jacket and a ball cap. Which I felt complimented his dark skin,lean but strong figure, bright red hair and his glasses. His feet had working boots on them and his hands wore rubber gloves.

" You were going to talk to me next? " I questioned.

" Yeah, I make it a habit of introducing myself to people when I can. " Dawson said.

" Well I'm Kouki Yoshi and I think we're going to get along really great. " I said.

" Awesome. " he said.

" Excuse me can I jump in on this conversation. "

Dawson and I turned to whoever spoke. It took me minute but I soon recognized the girl standing in front of me. Her name is Kumo Yomohiro and she is known as the Ultimate pilot. Her hair is a mix between orange and brown. She might look a little short for a pilot but from what I hear her reputation is well earned.

Her pale skin and blue eyes matched her brown leather vest, the white and light green striped long sleeved shirt, and her pilot cap and goggles. She also wears boot cut jeans that reach to her knees with a leather belt. Then I realized she wore orange glasses and a light green bow tie on the front, left side of her vest. Her shoes were white flats that look a little worn with white socks.

" No problem, I've still gt people to introduce myself to. " Dawson said as he walked.

I turned to Kumo and introduced myself.

" Ultimate Lucky Student huh, well you aren't very lucky if your trapped in here with us. " she said.

" Well I'm lucky, that means both good luck and bad luck so i guess in this case I've got bad luck. " I said.

" We both have bad luck if we're trapped here, but we can't stay like this forever right, we'll have to be let out eventually. " she said, the fear in her voice evident.

" We have bad luck right now so we'll eventually get good luck. " I tried to reassure her.

" I hope that's soon. " Kumo said.

" Well I just came over here to introduce myself and your reassuring me, I hope we get to talk more in the future. " she said as she walked.

I've noticed a lot of people walking away from me. Wonder why? Either way they leave in an awfully dramatic matter don't they. I then noticed two girls standing off to the side out of the way. I recognized Alyara Sardonyx the Ultimate Artist but I didn't recognized the other girl. So I walked over to them and introduced myself.

" H-hi I'm Alyrara Sardonyx and I'm the Ultimate Artist, sorry if I'm not talakative I just need to get used to this situation. " Alyara Sardonyx said.

Alyara has medium length blueish hair, hazel eyes with spots of green and purple thick framed glasses she wears. Her skin is light and she wears a purple tank top like t-shirt over a black a tank top. And a black skirt that reaches her shins compliments all this.

" Its understandable but I hope we can be friends in the future. " I said.

" I'd like that, I just need time and I don't really need that much. " Alyara said.

Alyara turned to the girl next to her and said " Bye Sayu, I'll see you later. "

Alyara left and I turned towards the girl called Sayu. Her skin is pale and she's got light brown freckles scattered across her cheeks and nose. Her hair is mousy brown, long and wavy with a straight cut fringe and her eyes are dark brown. She wears a simple satiny blouse with half sleeves and in the color green. She also wore a flowly dark red knee length skirt. Her feature to me seemed to be delicate and yet they seem unremarkable.

" So who are you? " I asked.

" Sayu Akizuki. " she replied.

" What's your talent, Sayu. " I asked.

" My talent, hmm an interesting story...for another time. " she said.

" Why not now? " I asked.

" I'd like to confirm what's going on here before anything else happens. " she said.

" I see, well I won't press for more details. " I said.

" Thank you and there is a person behind you. " she said.

I turned to see a guy grinning behind me. The guy standing in front of me wore a long white lab coat that goes down to his shins with blue hoodie underneath. He also wore grey jeans, black converse for shoes, and mechanic goggles around his neck. His spiky hair was a dark burgundy color that goes all the way down to his shoulders.  
His eyes are something interesting, they aren't the same color with his left eye being brown and his right eye being blue, something tells me that didn't occur naturally.

" Can I help you? " I asked.

" Yes you can, come see me when you have free time. " he said.

" Okay and you are? " I asked growing more creeped out by the second.

" Katsu Gekai, the Ultimate Surgeon trust me your in good hands. " he said with a huge grin.

" But... " I began.

" TRUST ME! " He yelled.

His yelling shocked me so much that i stumbled back a bit.

" Great now I've yelled so much for first impressions, but seriously visit me anytime I'm always open to new patient.. I mean people. " he said with a grin.

" Right I'll keep that in mind. " I said.

" Excellent. " he said then he skipped away.

" Wow and I thought I knew crazy but this is just a whole other level. "

I turned towards the sound of the voice and found a boy. He wore a navy blue hoodie, black t-shirt, black athletic pants, black sneakers, black wristwatch on his right arm, and sleek framed glasses covering chocolate brown eyes. His hair was black with green highlights and his skin is caramel brown.

" Well I wouldn't call him crazy just eccentric. " I said.

" Trust me he's crazy. " he stated.

" And you are? " I asked.

" Milo Karrick, Ultimate Comedian. " he said his hand outstretch.

" Kouki Yoshi, Ultimate Lucky Student. " I said as I took his hand and shook it.

" Nice to meet you. " Milo said.

We finished our introductions but something told we would talk again much later, sooner than I'd expect.

I started looking around for people I haven't introduced my self to when I found myself staring at a huge guy. A big bulky guy with a slight tan, slightly spiky brown hair, greenish brownish eyes, red flannel with the sleeves rolled up, dirty blue jeans, black muddy boots and calloused hands. I was expecting a big confident voice to come out of him but instead a nervous and shy voice came out.

" Hi, I'm Mikio Kikumori and I'm the Ultimate Gardener. " he said.

" Kouki Yoshi, Ultimate Lucky Student and its nice to meet you. " I said.

" I-I have to go now. " he said then speed walked away.

Either he has to be somewhere or he's shy/nervous. Though I get the feeling he'll warm up to everyone soon.

" He's a nice guy I hope we get to know him better. " A girl said. This girl hair was a dyed red which reaches down to the top of her neck though I am seeing a bit of black of the top of her head. The hair is also brushed over her ear on the right side of her face and she keeps it in place with the help of a blue clip, however her hair on the left is left to hang freely. She has a fairly flat complexion, a light skin tone, and a few scars around her left eye that I can tell weren't caused by animals. Over her eyes she wears a pair of small rectangular glasses, and on her right cheek there is a tattoo of a Welsh dragon.

Her clothing consisted of a blazer from an unknown school, denim shorts, black leggings that reach just above her knees, and black trainers with pink highlights and worn out laces.

" Yeah but right now I'd like to get to know you. " I said.

" Well my name is Cleopatra Davis but you can call me Cleo and I'm the Ultimate Veterinarian. " Cleo said.

" Kouki Yoshi and I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student. " I said in response.

" Lucky huh, sure could use that luck right about now. " she said.

" Yeah I seem to be getting that a lot. " I said.

" Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to say that I'm blaming you or expecting things from you, it's just that I wished we weren't trapped here. " She said.

" You don't know we're trapped here forever, for all we know we could be rescued any minute. " I said in a reassuring manner.

" I guess but I don't want to keep my hopes up, the worst kind of hope is false hope. " she said.

" But the worst kind of despair is not hoping at all. " I said.

With that Cleo walked away but before giving me a thought full look.

" Hello. " A voice from behind me. I turned around and saw a girl with a bright smile on her face. This girl has a slim figure but um big proportions on her body. Her hair is long and the color sky blue which are tied up in twin tails. She has a small button nose, her skin is light sun kissed and her lips are full pink. She wears thin black glasses over her piercing blue eyes, which have mascara and they seem to go well with her grin.

She also wears a blue blazer over a long white sleeved with a light blue tie and the more I look at it the more I realized it has the Rising Angel crest on it. The crest is a faceless, genderless, and featureless angel holding up the sun. In combination with all those things, she also wears a navy blue pleated skirt which reaches about just above mid thigh, and blueish blackish leggings with black heeled boots which has sharp heels and reaches just above her ankles. Then I noticed her shirt was slightly unbutton.

" Sorry but I couldn't help but over hear the last part of your guys conversation and thought it was super depressing so I decided to cheer you up. " She said.

" And you are. " I said with the nervousness seeping into my voice. Seriously there are some crazy people here.

" I'm Kagura Miyamoto, its nice to meet you. " She said still with her crazy grin.

Kagura Miyamoto, the Ultimate Bomb Specialist. She is most well known for inventing an explosive that's cheap and easy to build. She showcased this explosive while attempting to get into a police academy but talent scouts from both Hope's Peak and Rising Angel were both there and they both extended offers to attend their schools respectively. I guess she accepted the offer from Rising Angel because she's in their uniform, more or less.

" Kouki Yoshi. " I said as I extended my hand for a handshake.

She took it and said " Right your the Ultimate Lucky Student I've been hearing so much about, man you must be lucky to be meeting so many unique people. " she said.

" I guess but I'm more focus on the fact that we're trapped here. " I said.

" Yeah but your not here alone you've got us. " she said.

" Speaking of us there's one person whom you haven't yet so I'll introduce you guys. " She said as she took my hand and dragged me away to meet this person.

She dragged me to a corner of the room where a guy was leaning up against the wall looking bored. The guy had short auburn hair and dark blue eyes. His skin tone is white and he wears three bracelets total, two on his left wrist and one on his right. The bracelets on his left are purple and blue and the one on his right is orange. His outfit consist of whit long sleeved shirt and a navy blue belt with brown shorts, this is all complimented by his dark grey boots. His height is average for a 16 year old.

" This is William Gerado but you can call him Will and he's the Ultimate Songwriter. " Kagura said.

" Sup. " he said.

" Hi Kouki Yoshi and I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student, pleasure to meet you. " I said.

" Right well it was nice to meet you. " he said.

And he walked away.

" Don't worry its not you, he gets like that in high pressure situation like deadlines for famous singers or when your kidnapped and thrown into a room full of strangers with no idea what's going on. " Kagura said.

" You seem to know a lot about everyone here. " I said.

" I do my research and I don't know that much, just a little more than most. " she said.

Then the monitor on the wall blinked on. Static filled the screen and then the silhouette of a...teddy bear? Appeared on the t.v.

" Ahem, this is a school announcement would all students report to the gym for opening ceremony. "

Then the monitor blinked off leaving us more confused.

" Come on we won't get anywhere just standing here so I suggest we go to the gym and get some answers. " Serra said.

Left with little other choice we all left for the gym.

Eventually we all made it to the gym were there was nothing waiting for us. Had we been tricked. Was this all a cruel prank. If so what was that we saw on the screen in the entrance hall. It looked like a teddy bear but teddy bears don't speak. At least they didn't last time I checked.

Some time passed and still nothing happened. Some of us looked like they were about to leave until laughter filled the gym.

" Phuhuhu. "

Huh, did I just hear that.

" Phuhuhu. "

That laughter, it came from the stage. We began looking at the stage in anxious anticipation. What came next was unexpected to say the least. Suddenly a black and whit bear popped out of the stage and landed on the speaking podium. The bear had a lightning red eye on the black side and a round black eye on the white side.

His grin was similar with teeth being on the black side and nothing on the white side.

" Greetings everyone, I hope you all had a great morning and welcome to Rising Angel. " It said.

" I am Monokuma and I am this school's headmaster. " Monokuma said.

" Come again. " I said.

" Yeah right like a teddy bear would ever be a headmaster of a school. " Aima said.

" You guys must have misheard me I am not a teddy bear, I am Monokuma and I would beary much like for you guys to remember that. " Monokuma said.

" Did he just say beary? " Dawson asked.

" Really that's your question. " Aima replied.

" Well it was the first thing that came to mind and I kinda just said it. " Dawson said.

" I'm still waiting for the punch line. " Milo said.

" Huh? " Monokuma said.

" I mean I admire your dedication to delivering a good joke but I think this is a bit expensive and your dragging the joke bit. " Milo said.

" Oh so we're going that route huh, you know you remind me of someone who's saying exactly what your saying and I can't believe he's still alive. " Monokuma said while he had a look of reminiscing on him. At least I think it's a guy and I don't really think its important right now.

" Anyway this is no joke starting today everyone here is starting a school communal life together from now to graduation. " Monokuma said as he snapped out of his trance.

" And how long is the school life here? " Kumo said with her eyes darting around the gym as if expecting it to close in on her.

" For the rest of your life's. " Monokuma said nonchalantly.

" F-For the rest of our life's " Kumo said as she began clutching her body and slowly falling onto the ground.

" Yep and you guys are trapped here so don't even think about escaping. " Monokuma said.

" Trapped here. " Kumo muttered.

" O-Okay we get it joke's over now you can stop. " Milo said.

" Oh but don't despair guys their is a way to graduate and leave this school so listen in beary closely. " Monokuma said.

" How? " Kumo asked.

" Why murder of course. " Monokuma said nonchalantly again.

" M-Murder? " Megan said, fear evident in her voice.

" Yep stabbing, shooting, strangling, drowning, bludgeoning, poisoning, even eating counts so long as the person dies it doesn't really matter how you do it. " Monokuma said.

" Seriously stop it, this prank is going to far. " Milo said as desperation slowly built up within him.

" I don't think it's a prank. " I said.

" It has to be a prank otherwise...otherwise I wouldn't be able to handle it. " Milo said.

" Ooh am I sensing despair from everyone here, oh you kids know how to make my day don't you. " Monokuma said.

" We'd never murder our friends. " I said.

" Phuhuhuhu I am going to enjoy seeing you fall into despair Mr Yoshi for you see humans are fragile things, upset them a little and they fall into despair filled bits. " Monokuma said.

" But that won't happen with us. " I said with as much determination as I could muster.

" We'll see won't we phuhuhu, anyways it won't be doing the murdering it will be you guys and its going to be despairingly awesome. " Monokuma said.

" Please stop. " I said.

" Phuhuhuhu. " Monokuma said as it disappeared into the stage leaving us all in a confused and scared state.

Mikio started to silently cry. Kumo was still clutching her sides and shacking her head as if in denial. Most of the others were in various states of denial or horror.

" Why us, what did we do to deserve this. " Ramos said.

" I don't know but if we work together we'll make it through this. " I said.

" Your unbearably naive. " Serra said.

" Huh? " I said.

" If you think that nobody here will murder someone then your a fool. " Serra said.

" Monokuma may have said many things but he was right about humans being fragile and he's set us up to shatter. its only a matter of time before the killings begin. ' she said.

Her words cut deeply into me. I could feel a cold sensation spreading throughout my body. Is this what despair feels like? Was this Monokuma's goal? Can we really trust anybody here but ourselves? I could feel the world slowly collapse around as I stood frozen in place. The School Life of Mutual Killing had begun.

* * *

 **End Of Prologue**

 **Students Remaining: 16**

 **Kouki Yoshi: Alive**

 **Alyara Sardonyx: Alive**

 **Mikio Kikumori: Alive**

 **Serra Raven: Alive**

 **Ramos Luciano: Alive**

 **Milo Karrick: Alive**

 **Cleopatra Davis: Alive**

 **Megan Winslow: Alive**

 **Katsu Gekai: Alive**

 **Kagura Miyamoto: Alive**

 **Sayu Akizuki: Alive**

 **Axel Takashima: Alive**

 **William Gerardo: Alive**

 **Aima Jespersen: Alive**

 **Dawson Tall: Alive**

 **Kumo Yomohiro: Alive**


	2. Chapter 1: Like Dominoes Part 1

**Chapter 1: Like Dominoes**

 **Daily Life**

The cold feeling of despair had implanted itself in my body as I wondered what would happen next. I was at a standstill on what I should do. The despair had entrenched itself so deeply in me that I doubt anything would be able to pull it out. Well almost anything. When I heard her voice it was like a weight had been tied to me and it was dragging me back to reality. Whether I wanted to or not.

" Come on you guys actually believe in the crap that bear and girl are saying. " Kagura said.

And just like that I was back in reality with my two feet on the ground.

" Crap that I'm saying, just what exactly are you implying. " Serra said.

" You should trust people a bit more, have faith in them. " Kagura said.

" I don't believe in faith I only trust facts and the facts are saying murders will happen. " Serra said with the utmost confidence I have ever seen in a person.

" I refuse to believe that humans are so predictable to you, we will make it out of this alive and we won't give in to despair. " Kagura said with an even greater confidence.

Suddenly bells ringed throughout the gym and Monokuma popped up on a nearby monitor.

" Ahem, it is now 10 pm as such it is officially night time. Please return to your rooms if you want to go to sleep cause sleeping elsewhere will be punished severely. Also there is something of a gift in your room from me to you. Goodnight and sleep tight. " It said.

" Alright everybody you heard the teddy bear, get some sleep tonight and we'll plan tomorrow. " Kagura said.

And we all did just that though Serra did send Kagura a glare before exiting the gym. Kagura seemed unfazed by this as she was deep in thought. I approached her hesitantly, unsure of what to say. Why am I talking to her, I have no idea but I felt that I needed to.

" Thank you. " I said.

" For what? " she asked.

" for what you said I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't said anything. " I said.

She smiled a little and said " I just said what was on my mind it wasn't really anything special. "

" I disagree I think you said exactly what everyone needed to hear. " I said.

" Well anyways you should get some rest it would be bad if you collapse from exhaustion. " she said.

And we left the gym and entered our rooms. I then found three items on the table next to my bed. One was a key labeled Kouki Yoshi. Another item was a tool kit with a note on it. _To the boys: I given you this useful tool kit for future murders and the girls have sewing kits along with a map of the human body with its most vulnerable points. Have fun. - Monokuma._

How considerate of Monokuma. The next item was a smart phone. The note attached to it read: _This is the Ephone. Not to be confused with the iphone but don't worry I'm sure Apple won't sue us for a potential copyright infringement. They are currently trying to survive The Tragedy but it doesn't look good for them. Anyways this device is essential to your school life here. It does everything here, it unlocks doors, has a map, student info and much much more. The rest will be explained when something exciting happens._

With this slightly disturbing information in mind I laid down beneath the blanket covering the bed and fell into an uneasy sleep. Monokuma, murder and being trapped in a school meant to bring hope to humanity. Can this get any crazier. You know what, don't answer that. I don't want to find out.

The next morning I awoke to the sound of a bell. I groaned as I sat up on the bed. I slowly walked to my door which was the source of the bell. I opened the door to the smiling Axel Takashima .

" Hi Axel. " I said half awake.

" Hello Kouki, Axel hopes he's not interrupting anything. " Axel said.

" No I was just about to get up. " I said now more awake.

" That's good, anyways Kagura wants everyone to meet in the cafeteria. " Axel said.

" Yeah I'll come just give me a minute. " I said.

" Okay. " Axel said as he walked away, presumably towards the cafeteria.

I then walked into my bathroom and took a quick shower and left my room for the cafeteria. When I entered everyone had already gathered there.

" Good, everyone is here so now we can begin. " Kagura said.

" I have thought long and hard about this and to raise everyone's spirit I've decided to throw a party. " Kagura paused for a moment before she continued.

" Axel, Milo and I will plan the party while everyone else gathers and set up the supplies. " she said waiting for a reaction.

When no one spoke I stepped forward and said " I think its a great idea. "

" Thank you Kouki. " Kagura said.

" I guess every army needs an event to raise its morality. " Serra agreed.

" That settles it we are going to have a party. " Kagura said.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

Next chapter is pretty much a free time chapter so if you don't want to read that then you can skip it or not. Also I am totally hooked on The End of Hope's Peak Academy anime. Tell me what is your favorite moment so far in it? See you next time.


	3. Chapter 1: Like Dominoes Part 2

" Okay now that we've got that out of the way we need to discuss Monokuma's rules and whose most likely to murder. " Serra said.

" What rules? " asked Dawson.

" Don't tell me I'm the only one who looked at their Ephones for more than five seconds. " Serra said.

" I only read the note, I didn't really look at it much after that. " I said.

Serra stood immobilize for a minute, processing the new information she was given. Slowly the cogs in her head turned. She took a deep breath as if to calm herself. In retrospect I probably should have seen this coming. Serra always did seem like the type of person likes to argue that she's right all the time.

" AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO REALIZES THAT WE ARE IN A LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION! " Serra yelled.

" Okay I think she's finally snapped. " Milo said.

" COME ON SOMETHING NEW THAT MONOKUMA GAVE US COULD HOLD VITAL INFORMATION AND YOU GUYS IGNORE IT LIKE IT WAS AN INSECT OR SOMETHING! " Serra continued to yell.

" Definitely snapped. " Milo said.

" IDIOTS ALL OF YOU. " Serra yelled as she stormed out of the cafeteria.

" I-Is it over. " Megan said as she crawled out from underneath a table.

" Have you been hiding under the that the entire time? " Dawson asked.

" N-No only when she started yelling. " Megan said.

" Why its not like she was going to kill anyone. " Dawson said.

" Hey we are in a life or death situation, I'd rather not take my chances with a crazy person with possible military training whose currently freaking out. " Megan said.

" She has a point. " Aima said.

" Perhaps we should move on to more pressing matters like the information on our Ephones that Serra mentioned. " Sayu said.

" Right we should learn whatever rules Monokuma made up. " Kumo said.

So we all took out our Ephones and turned them on. My name flashed on the screen before I saw the Rising Angel crest. The only thing in the home menu was a Monokuma face tabled Apps. I then scrolled through apps like map or alarm until I came upon three that caught my attention. The first one was a revolver labeled Truth Bullets but that was locked off for some reason. The next one was my picture labeled Student Profiles.

I touched it and my face came onto the screen. I began to read the information and found myself in shock. This profile had everything about me including my blood type. Seriously it even had my habit where I cross my fingers to try and get more luck. How did Monokuma even find out about this stuff. This is like stalker level details listed here. Judging from everyone else's expression they just found their profile too, even the normally neutrally expressive Sayu had a brief look of surprise on her face for a brief second.

Feeling seriously violated I then looked at the app labeled rules. The rules then appeared on my screen.

 **1\. Students under no circumstances are allowed to leave Rising Angel Academy.**

 **2\. With minimal restrictions, students are allowed to explore the school.**

 **3\. Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is the destruction of surveillance cameras. Anyone caught in such acts will be punished.**

 **4\. Any students who've committed a murder will automatically become the blackened. Unless their crime is discovered they will be allowed to leave the school.**

 **5\. If three or more students not including the killer discover a body, the body discovery announcement will play.**

 **6\. Monokuma is allowed to make as many bear puns as he wants.**

 **7\. The time from 10 pm to 7 am is considered night time. As such some areas will be locked and the water for showers will be turned off**

 **8\. Additional rules may be added.**

I read and reread the rules just to be sure. My life just keeps getting crazier.

" The rules seem pretty clear to me. " Cleo said.

" These rules sure make the game more interesting doesn't it. " Katsu said.

" Make the game more interesting, just what are you getting at. " Cleo said.

" What could I be getting, perhaps I am saying that this situation we are in is a life or death game idiot. " Katsu said mockingly.

" Why you little... " Cleo began.

" I am terribly sorry for my behavior, please don't hit me. " Katsu interrupted.

" Whoa that was a complete 180 personality change. " Milo said.

" Clearly I not wanted here so I'll leave. " Katsu said as he sadly walked out of the cafeteria.

" Maybe we should lock him up in his room or something. " Dawson suggested.

" Why would we do that? " Mikio asked.

" Because he's unstable, bipolar person with knowledge of how to kill the human body and did I mention he's unstable. " Aima said.

" It just seems cruel to lock him up for acting the way he does. " Mikio said.

" How about a compromise, we have someone guard him but we don't lock him up , everyone wins. " I said.

" That could work, Ramos could you be the one to guard Katsu? " Kagura asked.

" Sure, but I won't hurt him unless absolutely necessary. " Ramos said.

" I wouldn't expect anything else from you. " Kagura said.

Ramos then left the cafeteria and went looking for Katsu. After Ramos left we all took our jobs from Axel, Milo and Kagura and went about our business. My job for the time being was to get some our more shy or antisocial classmates to come to our party. So the first person I decided to ask was Serra. As I stood in front of her about to ring her door bell I couldn't help but feel that this was a bad idea given her freak out earlier. But I rung the bell anyways.

When she answered the door she gave me a look I couldn't tell what emotion it was displaying. I then realized she was waiting for me to speak.

" Are you coming to the party? " I asked.

" Maybe. " she answered.

" Can I convince you to come anyways? " I asked.

" Possibly. " She answered.

And so I spent a little time with Serra. I think we grew a little closer.

" I suppose your going to ask about my past now. " Serra said.

" Why would I do that, we're friends and I feel it would be an invasion of privacy if you don't want to talk about it. " I said.

" You surprise me, whenever someone likes you meets me they always ask how I became what I am. " Serra said.

" I'm not that type of person. " I said.

" You remind me of my mother, she was always the supportive one while my dad put high amounts of pressure on me for whatever I did. " Serra said.

" And when ever I didn't perform at my best he would ignore me for weeks until I apologized for failing. My mother was the complete opposite she was always supportive of my decisions no matter what happened, sometimes I think she only stayed married to my dad was for my sake. " Serra said as she continued to reminisce.

" The only time when my father didn't fault me was in games of chance so I became curious with luck but games of strategy was where my father was the hardest on me so I would practice often and soon I got good enough even beat my father. " she said.

" I remember the way my father smiled when I beat him and that it was the most happiest moment of my life. " Serra said.

" Why was your father so hard on you? " I asked.

" Because he was a world famous strategist and general and he came from a famous line of generals. Their was certain amount of expectations for him to have a son but he had me instead and I was an only child so even more pressure on me. Still he defended me and said I would be better than anything they could throw at us. I decided that when he said that I would exceed every ones expectations of me. " she answered.

" That sounds like you didn't have a fun childhood. " I said.

" Maybe but it made who I am right now so maybe it wasn't all bad. " she said.

" Alright I'll go to your party but only to finally experience one. " Serra said.

" Of course. " I said with a smile. Sometimes she's a terrible liar. Next on my list was Mikio Kikumori. He looked a bit rattled from earlier and I kinda wanted him to socialize a bit with the others. I found him in the storage room next to the cafeteria. The storage room was basically a room filled with cardboard and wooden boxes stacked on shelf's with a few crowbars lying around.

" Hey Mikio, you doing alright? " I asked.

" I've been better but I'll be alright. " he said.

" You probably think I should act more stronger don't you, its okay I'm used to people saying that by now. " he said.

" N-No that's not it I always check in with my friends to see if their alright regardless of circumstances. " I said.

" Really, you actually mean that? " Mikio asked.

" Yeah your my friend are you not? " I asked.

" I would like to be friends with you. " he said.

" That's good, it look liked you needed a friend. " I said.

" Yeah even growing up it was hard to make friends with the way I looked. The smaller kids thought I was to big and scary to hang around with and the kids that did look like me didn't like the way I acted. Even my family sometimes disapproved of the way I acted. " he said.

" That shouldn't have happened to you. " I said.

" It got better when I discovered my talent, suddenly I was treated with respect and was accepted by pretty much everyone. It was nice having friends even if some were trying to take advantage of my talent. " Mikio said.

" I promise I not your friend because of your talent, I'm here for you. " I said.

" Thanks and Dawson should be here soon so I should move some of these boxes into the cafeteria though I can't seem to find some small speakers. " Miko said.

" Are they important? " I asked.

" Axel would like some for the music he's going to play but I'll probably ask Dawson to look for them or maybe William should look for them he's been pretty absent from group activities. " he said.

" I'll leave you to it. " I said.

After I left the storage room I saw Kumo enter the cafeteria. I decided to follow her in. When I entered I saw her talking to Kagura.

" Yeah I think adding cinnamon rolls to the menu could be fun. " Kagura said.

" Great I already put a box of them in the kitchen area so all I need is to unpack and prepare them. " Kumo said.

" I didn't know we had any. " I said.

" Oh I found a box labeled cinnamon rolls in the storage room but the writing was faded away and I had to pry it open with a crowbar. " Kumo said.

" Kouki can you help Kumo prepare some food for the party? " Kagura asked.

" Sure " I said.

I spent some time with Kumo preparing food. I feel like we grew a little closer. I noticed Kumo had short rapid breaths.

" Kumo, are you alright? " I asked.

" Yeah I just need to calm down a bit. " she said.

" Anything I can help with? " I asked.

" Not unless you can cure claustrophobia. " she said.

" Sorry I'm not the Ultimate Therapist. " I said.

" Yeah well that's one of the reasons I fly, because it sin't in confine spaces and it grants me freedom that other things just don't. " she said.

" So earlier when Monokuma announced the Killing game... " I said.

" The walls and ceiling already felt like they were closing in on me. " she finished.

" And do they still close in on you? " I asked.

" Sometimes, but with you guys not as much. " she said.

" Friends have that affect on you. " I said.

" Yeah I guess they do. " she responded.

Soon after that we entered the cafeteria. Only Kagura, Milo and Axel remained in the room going over what looks like a supply list. Suddenly a bell rang out through the school and then Monokuma appeared on a monitor.

" Good evening my lovely hopeful students. So I was having a conversation earlier with myself and I asked that handsome devil why anyone hasn't killed anyone yet. Why you guys are partying instead of murdering. And he responded with the most obvious thing. A motive, you guys are all missing a motive. You know that extra push to kick start your urge to kill. To return you all to your basic instinct. So come on down to the Audio/Video room for your special gift called a motive. Phuhuhuhu. "


	4. Chapter 1: Like Dominoes Part 3

I stood in front of that door for what felt like hours nut were actually seconds. A motive from Monokuma. Every fiber in my body told me not to listen to it. To turn away right now. But if I did that then what would Monokuma do, punish me? As much as I wanted to deny it, another reason I was going in was that I was curious.

Curious for what Monokuma had prepared for us. For what would motivate someone to kill. Although it was a small part of me that felt this way, I still felt sick to my stomach for feeling this. These are people's lives here not some sick twisted social experiment. Katsu would disagree but that's a story for another time. As i willed away these feelings I took one more look around the hallway.

No one else had arrive yet. I took a breath to steady my nerves and stepped inside the Audio/Video room. When I entered I saw that the room was dark and a faint layer of dust had formed on everything in the room.

" Strange this room shouldn't have this much dust if we are really still are in Rising Angel. So why does it look like the room hasn't been used in a while? " I said to no one in particular.

I then noticed a box labeled Motive. I walked over to it and began to examine the contents. The box held a pile of dvds each with our names on them. I picked mine and walked over to the nearest station. I dusted off the screen and held the dvd in my hands. After a moment of hesitation I opened the case and put the dvd in the player.

" Do your worst Monokuma. " I said.

I really regret saying that now. The screen soon flashed a bright white before turning itself into a familiar setting. It was the living room in the house I lived in. And sitting on the couch were my parents. I remember the day they came home to wish me good luck at Rising Angel and to spend a few weeks with me. They travel a lot due to work and when they do have days off it was only for a weekend so when they decided to spend a few weeks with me before I left for school it was a big deal.

" Kouki we're so proud of you. " my dad said.

" We only wish we could have spent more time with you before you left. " my mom said.

" Remember to always do your best and to help everyone out. " my dad said.

" We'll always be with you. " my mother said.

If had just been that I would have felt fine or reassured but the video didn't stop there. The screen went dark a minute then showed an image that seared itself on my brain. An image I would never forget. My parents lying on the ground beaten, bruised and not moving at all. Then Monokuma popped up on the screen.

" Gee I wonder what happened to Kouki's parents, the only way to find out the answers is to graduate. " it said.

Then the screen went dark and nothing else showed. What I felt after that could only be described as despair and the strong need to escape here and find my parents. But as strong as that urge was I couldn't bring myself to even think about killing anybody here. But still the feeling lingered. I don't how long it was before everyone showed up but they did.

" What's wrong? " Kagura asked.

I simply pointed to the box filled with the motive dvds. After everyone began to watch their's I left not wanting to see the looks on their faces after watching the dvds. I walked into my room without really meaning to.

" Dammit Monokuma. " I muttered.

" Did you call for me? " It said.

" Gah, where did you come from? " I asked.

" Details details, any who I just got done speaking to the rest of the scooby gang back there and they were in so much despair. " Monkuma said.

" You're a monster. " I said.

" No I am Monokuma and you should be a bit more grateful. " Monokuma said.

" What do you mean? " I asked with a sense of dread setting in.

" Well I am letting you live at your old school and I did have such great ideas like putting you guys on a cruise of hope and despair or on a plane that takes you to multiple islands but isn't it more despair inducing to die in a place that was suppose to symbolize a new beginning for you all. " Monokuma said.

And then he left just as quickly as he showed up. So I entered and laid down on the bed staring up at the ceiling for who knows how long, lost in the roller coaster of emotions or thoughts I was feeling. Just as I was about to drift into sleep my doorbell rang.

I opened the door to a sad yet somewhat hopeful Axel.

" Axel knows you must be feeling pretty down but you must come with Axel. " Axel said.

Reluctantly I walked out of my room and shut the door behind me. It was mostly a silent walk with Axel trying to start a conversant but he eventually gave up. We walked in the cafeteria where everyone was.

" Good now that your here we can begin. " Kagura said.

" Now I know everyone is on edge with the motive Monokuma just gave us but I still think its a good idea to have a party. " she said.

" Why would you think that? Shouldn't you be at least extremely hesitant to go through with the party? " Aima said.

" While I originally was going to cancel several of you guys convinced me to continue with the party so we are. " Kagura said.

" Plus it keeps everyone in one area in case they think of committing a murder. " Serra added.

" I thought we agreed that wasn't the reason we wanted to have a party. " Kumo said.

" No just you and Cleo agreed to your reasoning I said no such things. " Serra said.

" Why you little B.." Cleo started but was interrupted by Kagura.

" Enough both of you. " Kagura said.

They both sent one last glare at each other before they stopped.

" Good now here are the jobs, William and Sayu your going to do... " Kagura began to distribute the jobs.

Me and Kagura got partnered up and we decided to check in on the others. The first group we checked in with was Mikio and Alyara. They were in the middle of designing the decorations for the party. While Kagura talked to Mikio so I helped Alyara with some designing.

" I notice you don't speak up in situations like the party planning. " I said trying to start a conversation.

" I never really felt like talking. " she said.

" Its just me being shy. nothing to worry about. " she continued.

" If your shy then why are you talking to me? " I asked.

She just smiled softly and said " I've seen the way you've already affected other people around you, Mikio for example has become less shy around some of us, before I could barely get him to say more than one sentence to me now when I ask a question he smiles and answers. I think you did that, he trust you a lot now. "

" I just said I would be his friend. " I said.

" Then what about Serra, every time I see you enter the room a little coldness and arrogance leaves her eyes and even Kumo seems to have adjusted well enough that her claustrophobia doesn't bother her that much. " Alyara said.

" I think you've underestimated the influence that one person can have on many people, your slowly becoming a bright hope for us all. " she said.

I remained silent, thinking on her words. Soon Kagura came and we left the storage room to look for another group. We just exited the room when we ran into Kumo.

" Kumo, I thought you were helping Megan with drinks. " Kagura said.

" Turns out that job only requires one person so I decided I could help Mikio with his search for some speakers. " Kumo said.

" Don't be late, it wouldn't be a party if everyone wasn't there. " I said.

Kumo smiled and said " I'll do my best. "

Kumo went in and moments later Alyara came out.

" I forgot some art supplies in my room to help with decorations plus I would only be getting in the way. " she said before we even asked anything.

Then she left for her room. We started walking towards the next group when we passed by the cafeteria. The floor was a mix of bright and colorful liquids. Standing in the middle of the mess were Megan and Milo.

" Don't worry we'll have this cleaned up in no time. " Megan said.

" This one is on me, I kinda went overboard. " Milo said.

" As long as you have fun and its cleaned up I don't mind. " Kagura said.

And we left the two in the cafeteria but as I left I could have sworn I overheard laughter from those two. Then we saw it. A red, yellow and green horse pinata. And carrying it were Alyara with Serra following closely behind her holding a metal bat.

" Why do you have a pinata? " I asked.

" Serra mentioned during the party planning that she always wanted to pop a pinata so I decided to make one for her and let her pop it. " Alyara answered.

" Just make sure you let everyone else take a swing at it. " Kagura said.

" Of course we will, now I'm going to put this is my secret spot in the storage room. " Alyara said.

" Why? " I asked.

" Because its already filled with sweets. " Alyara answered.

" Then why is Serra coming along? " I asked.

" Well she already knows the pinata exists so there would be no point in hiding it plus it is for her. " Alyara answered.

" It might not stay a secret for long, Mikio and Kumo are in the storage room. " I said.

" Don't worry, the spot is really well hidden. " Alyara said as she entered the storage room followed closely by Serra.

" You know she's gotten a lot more talkative since you met her, how did you do it? " Kagura asked with a smile

" I seriously don't know. " I said.

She chuckled and said " You've got talent that's for sure. "

And then she began to walk towards the dorms before I could respond. We arrived to see Sayu standing outside William's room.

" Why are you here? " I asked.

" Because William is not coming out of his room. " Sayu said.

" Why? " I asked.

" He said something about the motive putting him on edge and how he didn't want to spend time cleaning up the cafeteria if it's just going to get dirty again. " Sayu said.

" Go on we'll take care of this. " Kagura said.

" Right, the cleaning supplies should be right next to Alyara's secret hiding spot. " Sayu said.

" How do you know about that? " I asked.

" She's not as subtle as she thinks she is. " Sayu replied before heading to the storage room.

With that Kagura rang the doorbell to William's room. He emerged a few minutes later looking like he was sleeping.

" Wait you weren't sleeping, where you? " I asked.

He yawned and said " Yeah what about it? "

" You are supposed to be cleaning the cafeteria. " Kagura said.

" I'll clean it later I just want to get some rest before the party and... " William stopped before he said anything else.

" And? " I asked.

He looked at me and asked " Can I trust you? "

We both nodded.

" I don't want to be in the same room with Sayu alone. " he said.

" Why is that? " Kagura said.

" Because she's been acting suspicious ever since we looked and at our Ephones and ever since we were shown the motive she's been actively avoiding everyone. " William answered.

" That does seem suspicious but after what we saw wouldn't you be on edge. " I said.

" You don't need to worry about Sayu besides you won't be alone, someone will be with you. " Kagura reassured.

" Okay, can I go back to sleep? " William asked.

" No, and if you do try to go back to sleep I will be forced to tie you up and leave you in your room for the entire day. " Kagura said.

" Fine fine I'll go. " William said as he went towards the cafeteria and dinning hall.

" You weren't actually going to tie him, right? " I asked.

A chuckle was all I got in response.

" You can go to your room to prepare for the party. " Kagura said.

" Are you sure I don't want to leave you here all alone. " I said.

" I'll be fine plus there is something you can do for me. " she said.

" What is that? " I asked.

" Save a dance for me. " she said as she walked towards the cafeteria and storage room.

Did she just say save a dance for her? Why would she want to go dancing with me and why am I suddenly nervous.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

Sorry it took a while to get this up. School just started and I was pretty busy with that. And due to that I probably won't be able to update as frequently as I want. But now I'm here and with another chapter. However it isn't a chapter filled with death and despair, that comes later. I just wanted to set a few things up first. Just a forewarning, you can guess the blackened and give a little reason for why you think that way but keep the speculation to a minimum and you can guess who's going to be murdered but the same rules apply.

I was thinking of adding fun little questions to these stories at the end so here we go :

What do you think the anime opening for this story should be?

I feel like Dead End from Future Diary would be a good choice but let me know what you think.

Until Next.


	5. Chapter 1: Like Dominoes Part 4

It was 7:00 by the time I was ready to go to the party. A full hour after Kagura said I could get ready. Why did it take so long you ask. Well I don't really know myself. It's not like I have a suit on me or something fancy like that. But every time I felt I was ready I found something wrong. I don't really do that. And I still feel nervous.

I emerged from my room after one last inspection. I walked into the cafeteria to find the party in full swing although there are a few people missing. I grabbed a cup of punch and sat right next to Alyara.

" Looks like things turned out fine. " I said.

" Yeah but I guess some things could have been better. " she said.

" How? " I asked.

" I just wish more people showed up. " she said.

" Can you blame them, with everything that's happened I probably wouldn't have come. " I said.

Alyara gave me a look then said " You feel guilty over partying while the person you care the most about is in danger. "

My expression turned sad and I responded with " Was I that obvious. "

" Because I feel the same way. " she responded.

" So then why are you here? " I asked.

" I knew that the only way I could escape was to murder but by then I grew to think or the people here as friends and I suspect that it was the same with you. " she said.

" Your pretty good with people for being the Ultimate Artist, you should be called the Ultimate Therapist. " I said.

" Art requires insight and perspective, its seeing something where others wouldn't. I just take in the details of my surroundings and I see the nature of what could be. Mind you I'm not always right but I am surprisingly accurate. " she said.

" You see people as works of arts in progress. " I said.

" Yes, for art brings understanding, meaning, and uniqueness, if people saw each other as art they would see flaws but also beauty, goodness and heart. " she said.

" That's a good perspective to have on life. " I said.

" Thank you. " she said.

Then I saw her. I saw Kagura Miyamoto. She looked the same as before but different. Maybe it was the way she held herself or maybe it was the little touches like the smell of perfume. Kagura walked over to our table. Words came to my mind but nothing came out.

" I'm sorry am I interrupting something? " Kagura asked.

" No I was just leaving. " Alyara said as she got up. She turned around and gave me a wink before she left for more punch. That just left me and Kagura.

" You look good. " Kagura said.

" T-Thanks. " I said as I tried to contain the blush that was attempting to spread on my face.

" Come on you owe me a dance. " She said as she grabbed my hand and dragged me to the dance floor. Not that I'm complaining but Kagura has a habit of grabbing my hand and dragging me somewhere.

When we got to the dance floor the song that was playing had just finished. Only a few seconds later did a new song start. It was a song I heard a few times but after the party it took a new meaning for me.

 _Met a girl in the parking lot and all I did was say hello. Her pepper spray made it rather hard for me to walk her home. But I guess that's the way it goes. Tell me again was it love at first sight..._

" Nice song to start out with. " Kagura said.

" Yeah. " I agreed.

Then we began to dance. I don't even think we were dancing in sync with the song. But it didn't matter, not to me, not to Kagura and not to anybody here. All that mattered was that we were having fun. It was like we were all dead before and only now we were living. It didn't matter we were trapped or our loved ones were in danger. For now we were content to just live in the moment for however long it would last.

Soon the song ended and we could still feel energy running through us, it was if the universe was telling us to have fun for however long we could. Then a new song came on, a slow romantic song that you probably hear at proms or homecomings. I looked over and saw Megan whisper into Axel's ear.

" Alright everyone we're going to turn things down a bit and take it slow for a while. So grab a dance partner and hit the floor all romantic style. " Axel said.

Kagura walked over to me and said " Want to dance again? "

" Yeah, I would like that. " I said.

I placed my hands on her waist and she placed her hands on my shoulders then we danced for who knows how long. You kinda lose track of time when your focused on other things. Kagura gave me a look but it quickly disappeared.

" What? " I asked.

" You seemed worried. " she responded.

" I am, I guess I'm still worrying about my parents. " I said.

" Well I'm not going to tell you to forget about them or there's nothing to worry about but what I am going to say is that if you let that worry get in the way of life that's not living. " she said.

" No matter what I'll worry about them. " I said.

" Then worry but don't let that worry change you. We'll find a way out but if we lose ourselves in the process, then we've failed our loved ones. " she said.

I realized she was right. If I let that worry control me then what good will it do for my parents.

" Excuse me but I would like to pop the pinata now Alyara. " Serra said.

" Yeah just let me get it from the fridge, I moved it there because the chocolate would have melt. " Alyara said.

Alyara got up and went into the kitchen. A few minutes later it happened. A scream echoed throughout the cafeteria. A scream so horrifying and loud that the world went silent for a few seconds. Instantly me and Kagura ran into the kitchen to see what happened. Then something happened. Something appeared before and it took a few minutes to process.

Please tell me this is a nightmare. I want to wake up from it already. Wild thoughts such as those were what ran through my mind as I realized who was on the ground.  
Mikio Kikumori layed on the ground bloody, bruised and dead. Alyara was only a few feet away on her knees with her hands covering her mouth, tears streaming down her face. Suddenly Monokuma appeared on a monitor.

" A body has been discovered. After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the Class Trial will begin. "

* * *

 **Author's notes**

Bet you weren't expecting Mikio to die. I was pretty busy these last few days but now I'm here. So now I ask who is the blackened? Phuhuhuhuhu

Question of the week: Which voice actor do you think the characters would be voiced by?

My answer for Serra would be Jennifer Hale.


	6. Chapter 1: Like Dominoes Part 5

" Flowers I think were his favorite thing to plant, at least that's what he told me. " Alyara said.

" He was always so kind to everyone so why, why is this happening, why is Mikio lying on the ground with blood on him. " She said with tears streaming down her face.

I was at a lost for words. What can you say when a friends is murdered and your the one to find the body. We all stood there motionless in various states of shock, sadness and fear. Fear because according to Monokuma, one of us murdered Mikio. None of us wanted to believe that but what choice do we have. Monokuma will kill us all if we don't do what he says.

" Phuhuhuhu, I guess this is a bad time and all but come down to the gym so I can give you a special gift. " Monokuma said as he popped on the monitor.

" We don't have a choice, we have to go to the gym. " Serra said.

" W-We can't just leave Mikio like this. " Megan said.

" We won't, we'll come back and find out who killed him I promise but right now we have to go to the gym okay. " Kagura said as she walked over to Megan.

" O-Okay. " Megan said.

And that's what we did, we all walked down to the gym though not by choice. We waited for what seemed like forever before Monokuma showed. Is he purposely making us late or is it something else.

" Phuhuhu, I'm so glad you all came here and under such despairingly circumstances. " Monokuma said.

" Get to the point. " Aima said.

" I will, I will but first one of you guys did something you shouldn't have. " Monokuma said.

" What do you mean? " I asked.

" Well why don't you ask Serra. " Monokuma said.

" It seems you found it. " Serra said.

" Of course I did, you weren't exactly subtle. " Monokuma replied.

" It's going to end this game of yours. " Serra declared.

" Phuhuhu you must be either really confident or desperate to think you can depend on it. " Monokuma said.

" Now get it out. " Monokuma ordered.

" No. " Serra replied.

" You must have misunderstood me, I'm not giving you a choice. " Monokuma said.

" You must have misunderstood me because I said no. " Serra said.

" Grrrrr, fine we're going to do this the hard way huh, well guess what, IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME. " Monokuma said.

Suddenly the floor beneath Serra opened up and she fell through. I reached out to grab her but she just slip through my fingers. The floor then closed up and we all jsut stood there, rooted in whatever position we were in. Then Kagura came over and placed a hand on my shoulder. Slowly I got up, the shock of losing another friend was still present but I had to move forward.

" Why, she did nothing to deserve that. " Ramos said.

" Oh but she was going to end our little game here and I couldn't have that happening. " Monokuma said.

" You won't get away with this. " I said.

" Phuhuhuhuhu, now on to the main event the Monokuma file. " Monokuma said as all our Ephones started buzzing.

" I've created an autopsy report for you all to read so enjoy. " Monokuma said as he disappeared.

I looked at my Ephone and discovered the Monokuma file under the Truth Bullets app. The file read:

 _Victim's name is Mikio Kikumori, the Ultimate Gardener. Time of death is 6:30 pm. Fatal blow appears to be a single blow to the head. After the blow was administered the Victim was alive for several minutes before death._

Mikio was alive for several minutes. that's horrible. After the others finished reading their files we began to strategize.

" Okay point to whoever you think is guilty. " Dawson said.

" That's not going to help. " Cleo said.

" For now we need to gather evidence before we start accusing each other. " Kagura said.

" We don't need evidence, Kumo or Sayu are the killer. " William stated.

" Why are you accusing me? " Kumo asked.

" Because you were the last one to see Mikio alive. " William said.

" No that's wrong, I'm not the one to last see Mikio alive I left soon after Alyara came in because I wanted to get ready besides...you've been acting pretty suspicious yourself. " Kumo said.

" What's that supposed to mean? " William said.

" Well about the fact that you've been avoiding everyone like when Sayu cleaned up the entire cafeteria herself and you weren't there. " Kumo said.

" Whatever I'm not going to listen to the words of a killer. " William said.

" Didn't I just say we wait before we accuse. " Kagura said.

" She's the one acting suspicious not me. " William said.

" Well I'm not going to stand in a room with this guy, see you all later. " Kumo said as she exited the gym.

" Hold on I'm keeping an eye on you. " William said as he followed her.

" I better make sure they don't get into any trouble. " Ramos said as he followed them.

" Come on we better start our investigation. " Kagura said.

We decided to start at the scene where we found Mikios body. We got there and we were surprised to see Cleo, Katsu, Kumo, Sayu and Ramos were already there.

" What are you doing? " I asked.

" Our own autopsy. " Cleo, Katsu, and Kumo said.

" My own investigation. " Sayu said.

" Guarding the crime scene. " Ramos said.

" We should probably take a look around ourselves. " Kagura said.

I quickly took in my surroundings. Mikio was lying on the ground with a single blow to the head. Strange, there doesn't seem to be a lot of blood around for a wound that size. Miko's face had an expression that said so much. It said he didn't want to die. At his feet lay a bat. A blood stain covered one side of it and it was cold to touch telling me which told me it had been in their for a while.

Then I noticed my breath was creating fog whenever I exhaled. I walked over to the thermometer and read the temperature. It was way below the recommended amount. I stared to shiver, I should finish here before I catch a cold.

" Hey are you guys done with your autopsy? " I asked.

Apparently they didn't hear me because none of them responded. I walked over and touched Kumo's arm and repeated my question.

" Yes I think we're about done. " She said as she got up and began to rub her arm in her shirt.

" Want me to give you the results? " Cleo asked.

" Sure. " I replied.

" Everything I've seen so far has confirmed what the Monokuma file says except for a major injury on the right side of the rib cage. " Cleo said.

She lifted up his flannel shirt to reveal the injury. It was yellow and black.

" He suffered one blow that caused internal bleeding. I almost wasn't able to find it because their was a powder covering it. If I hadn't been through we would have missed it. Plus I found blood on the his right index finger. " Cleo said.

" Thank you Cleo. " I said.

I began to think over this evidence but that was when I noticed a few pieces of something on the floor. I examined said pieces and discovered that some were wood and the others were chips of paint. Then William came bursting into the room.

" I've finally found you. " he said pointing at Kumo.

" I thought I got rid of you. " She said as she started to walk out of the kitchen.

" Not so fast your still under suspicion. " William said.

" Whatever. " She said as she continued walking.

" Hey I didn't say you could leave. " William said as he grabbed Kumo's arm.

Instinctively Kumo punched William in the head. He retaliated by pushing her. Kagura grabbed William and pinned him to the floor.

" Enough or this won't be the worst thing I do to you. " Kagura threatened.

" Hey are you okay. " I asked Kumo as I extended my hand to help her up.

" I'll be fine, maybe a few bruises later but...hey what's that. " Kumo said as she took something out of Mikio's jean right pocket.

It looked like a piece of paper. Whatever it was it made Kumo gasp. She silently dropped the paper and I soon understood what was so shocking. It read:

 _Mikio I found those speakers that Axel wants. Come and meet me at he storage room at 6:24 so we can carry them in._

 _signed Kouki Yoshi._

William sooned snatched it up and read it.

" Looks like I can't trust anybody here." He said as he left the room with the note.

" That guy never learns does he. " Kumo says.

" You don't think I'm the killer? " I asked.

" I think your definitely suspicious but then again everyone seems to be, I'll wait till we learn more before I jump to conclusions. " Kumo said.

" Thanks I guess. " I said.

" I finished my own investigation here, are you ready? " Kagura asked.

" Yeah I think I know a place we can look for more clues. " I said.

 **Monokuma file #1 has been added to the truth bullets.**

 **Lack of blood has been added to the truth bullets.**

 **Blood stained bat has been added to the truth bullets.**

 **Temperature of Fridge has been added to the truth bullets.**

 **Cleo's autopsy has been added to the truth bullets.**

 **Incriminating letter has been added to the truth bullets.**

I took Kagura to the storage room. On the way there I saw tiny drops of smeared blood, almost like someone tried to erase them. The storage room I don't think has been checked in a while.

" I can see why you want to check it out. " Kagura said.

The storage room was a mess. There was at least two piles and more drops of blood. One pile of wood was off to the side almost hidden. I probably would have missed it if I hadn't been looking for anything suspicious. I examined that pile and found chips of paint in it, like a lot of chips.

" Kouki, look at this. " Kagura said as she handed me a crowbar.

I soon noticed what she wanted me to see. Yellow paint was supposed to be on one end but instead the paint wasn't just missing, it was completely gone.

" Strange isn't it. " Kagura said.

" Yeah. " I agreed.

That was almost everything I wanted to examine except for one thing. Like the other pile it was out of the way but there was a few small drops of blood that differentiated it. I moved the pile away and found something interesting beneath it. Written out in blood was the word Bash but it looked smeared and kinda faded.

" I think Mikio wrote this. " Kagura said.

" It does match up with everything we know. " I said.

 **Blood drops has been added to the truth bullets.**

 **Wood pile with paint chips has been added to the truth bullets.**

 **Crowbar has been added to the truth bullets.**

 **Dying message has been added to the truth bullets.**

" Ahem, I got tired of waiting so lets start the class trial, you all know where to go. " Monokuma said as he appeared on a monitor.

Me and Kagura left the storage room ans went straight to a red velvet door. We opened it and everyone else was waiting, including Monokuma.

" Well now that everyone is here please enter the elevator. " Monokuma said.

We did as we were told and got on. The doors soon slid shut and we started to descend. No one spoke during the ride and all you could hear was the sound of the elevator descending deeper and deeper. You could probably hear a pin drop. I wonder is this what people feel when they know their about to die and they have no way of escaping it.

Do they feel an overwhelming sense of anxiety and despair. Because one of us killed Mikio and if we don't find out who did it, or we'll be next. Can I do it, can I really accuse a friend of being a murderer. Either way we've entered the point of no return. Whatever happens now will be up to us. Do we live or do we die, that is the question.

A deadly game, a deadly trap, a deadly ending.

A deadly friend, a deadly defense, a deadly wager.

A deadly Class Trial.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

Hey everybody, hope you like this investigation chapter. I know I did. Since the last chapter I've done a few things. I created a page on Danganronpa Fanfiction wiki for the story so go check it out, see how well I did. Only problem is I don't have any images for character portraits but I'm sure I'll fix that too. I've also been thinking about setting up an SYOC for Star Wars but I don't know. If I did that then I would probably have to take time out of Dangaronpa to do that. Let me know what you think I should do.

Question of the Chapter: What do you think about the conclusion of Danganronpa? And what are your predictions for V3?


	7. Chapter 1: Like Dominoes Part 6

" Let's begin with a simple explanation of the Class Trial. Basically your votes will decide the outcome of the trial. It's up to you to figure out who's the blackened, keep in mind that if you choose the wrong one, then everyone besides the blackened will be punished. If you choose the correct person, then only they will receive punishment. " Monokuma said.

" Quick question, what's up with all these pictures? " Dawson asked.

Dawson was referring to the pictures of our dead friends that stood on poles in the areas where they would be. Except these pictures were black and grey with a red x on Mikio's face but a question mark on Serra's.

" I thought it would be a shame if your friends weren't here, so even in death your friends will be cheering you on. " Monokuma said.

For some reason I find that hard to believe. Just seeing their faces is kinda depressing me and I have a feeling that's just the reason their there. To cause despair and sadness among us.

" Feel free to begin whenever you want. " Monokuma said.

" You say that but we have no idea where to begin. " Aima said.

" Why don't we go over everything we know about the crime scene first then we go from there. " Kagura said.

" Sure let's do that. " Aima agreed.

" The victim's name was Mikio Kikumori, the Ultimate Gardener. " Alyara said.

" The fatal wound was a single blow to the head. " Cleo stated.

" And we found him dead in the giant fridge of the kitchen. Maybe he was killed there and the killer panicked, running away and leaving the body for us to find. " Dawson said.

" No that's wrong, Mikio was killed somewhere else and I can prove it with this. " I said referring to the lack of blood at the crime scene.

" So what, you can just as clean up the blood or better yet have your accomplice, Kumo, do it for you. " William said.

" Wait you think that I'm the killer? " I said.

" Yeah you forgot something very important that gives you away. " William said.

This guy, don't tell me he still thinks I'm the killer. That letter must be really convincing.

" Hold on, there's still a lot of evidence to go over before we come to a decision. " Kagura said.

" Fine do whatever you want, it won't change my mind. " William said.

" There is a lot more evidence to reinforce this theory and one piece of evidence is clearly seen if you look at the floor outside the cafeteria. " Kagura said.

A piece of evidence that's obvious if you look at the floor, could she be referring to...

" Do you mean the drops of blood going from the storage room to the kitchen? " I asked.

" You are correct, with the party going on no one would have noticed small drops of blood on the floor because we were all distracted. " Kagura stated.

" That would make sense as we would be too occupied with other things and not on the lookout for anything suspicious. " Kumo said.

" Okay we've proven that the murder at least wasn't committed in the kitchen, so what that still doesn't prove that you aren't the killer. " William argued.

" But it doesn't prove that Kouki's the killer either. " Sayu said.

" And why would Kouki be bringing up these points if he's the killer, seems counterproductive to me. " Cleo said.

" Maybe it's all a part of his plan, to make it seem like he's helping but in reality he's leading us to make the wrong decision. " William stated with confidence.

" Your only partially right, it's true that someone has been influencing the investigation and thus the outcome of the trial but it's not who you expect. " Sayu said.

" W-What do you mean, if you know who it is then tell us so we can be done with this horrific situation. " Megan said.

" You must come to your own conclusions and thus your own closure. " Sayu said.

" So basically we have to figure it out on our own, thanks. " Milo said.

" It's not like we're alone in all this, as long as we stay together and trust each other, we can get through this. " I said.

" For now let's get back on track, we've determined that Mikio was killed somewhere else and where he was most likely killed but what was the murder weapon? " Sayu asked.

" Well that's an easy one, the speakers that Axel has been looking for this entire time. " Dawson stated with a great deal of confidence.

" It's true Axel has been looking for the speakers the entire time, Axel thought it would make the party better. " Axel said.

" And what is your reasoning behind your theory Dawson? " Kumo asked.

" Because they've been missing the entire time. " Dawson answered.

" Is that it? " Cleo said.

" Well they're heavy enough to kill a person aren't they? " Dawson asked.

" While they are heavy enough to kill someone, they do not create a wound like that. " Cleo answered.

" Okay so the speakers are not the murder weapon, so then what is? " Dawson asked.

" M-Maybe it's this metal bat. " Megan said, pulling up a picture a metal bat with a blood stain on it at the crime scene.

" I remember that, it was cold to touch. " Kumo said.

" Yeah, if I remember correctly it was there when I got back to the crime scene after what happened in the gym. " Cleo said.

" S-Since it was really cold when touched it might have been left in there for a while and that's why I think it's the murder weapon. " Megan said.

" I'm sorry Megan but that's wrong. " I said.

" I-It is? " Megan said with fear and shock.

" You see I thought the fridge was abnormally cold so I checked the temperature and discovered that it was way below the normal range. " I said.

" Meaning you can place an object in it and it would seem like it's been in there for a lot longer than it has been. " Kagura said.

" I-I see, I-I'm sorry. " Megan said as she began to rub her eyes as silent tears fell.

" It's okay, It's a mistake anyone of us could have made. " I said trying to reassure her.

" A mistake that the killer hoped we would make. " Sayu said.

" Plus look at the blood stain on it, it's too precise, if it really was the murder weapon it would be more random and chaotic. " Kagura said.

" Don't you guys think it was the obvious choice, if it was the murder weapon then it would be clean and out of the way. " I said.

" Okay we get it, the bat is not the murder weapon so then what is? " Aima asked.

" If I had to guess it would be this crowbar. " I said, showing them a picture of a crowbar with one end of it missing its paint.

" Okay it's a used crowbar I don't see how that's murder weapon? " Dawson questioned.

" Well I found some paint chips on Mikio's body. " I said.

" You found paint chips on his body. " Kumo said with surprised look on her face.

" Then we found those same paint chips in the storage room where the crowbar was. " I said.

" And if the crowbar was used in way that was not murder then there would only be several spots missing, not the entire thing gone. " Kagura said.

" Hold on, where's the evidence that the murder took place in the storage room? " William questioned.

" How about the two piles of wood, the drops of blood and the dying message in the storage room. " Kagura said.

" But that doesn't explain how paint chips got on Mikio, if that crowbar was the murder weapon then wouldn't the chips fall off when the body was moved? " Aima said.

" While that might have been true for the head wound, Mikio suffered another injury that would have left some chips on his body. " I said.

" Could you be referring to the wound on Mikio's ribs? " Katsu said.

" Yeah and if I remember correctly Cleo said it caused internal bleeding, a blow of that force would definitely have shooked paint loose from the crowbar. " I said.

" And while that may explain some of the missing pain it doesn't explain the rest of it? " Aima questioned.

" I would wager a guess that due to the amount of blood that the head wound caused, the killer wanted to get rid of the proof that the crowbar was the murder weapon. " Kagura said.

" Basically the blood on the crowbar would have been a dead give away so the killer got rid of it by removing the paint. " I said.

" Great we've figured everything else out but we still don't know who the killer is. " Dawson said.

" Of course we know who the killer is, it's Kouki Yoshi. " William said.

" You seriously have not been paying attention have you. " Aima said.

" I present my main piece of evidence, this letter found on the victim's body tells us exactly who he was planning on meeting. " William said as he showed the incriminating letter from before.

" Kouki used his close relationship with Mikio to manipulate him to go to a location where Kouki would have the advantage. " William said.

" That's not fair, if we're judging everyone one on the friendship that Kouki and Mikio had then I'm suspicious as well. " Alyara said.

" That doesn't matter right now, what matters is what Kouki will do to defend himself. " William said.

" I believe I can help with that. " Sayu said.

" Huh? " William said.

" Let's examine Mikio's dying message. " Sayu said as she showed a picture of the word bash written on the floor.

" So what, are we even sure Mikio wrote that. " William said.

" There is blood of the finger tip of one of Mikio's hand and the Monokuma file said that he lived for a few minutes before death. " Sayu said.

" Well what about... " William began.

" No in fact it was somebody listening in on a conversation which clued them in on the closeness of Mikio and Kouki. " Sayu said.

" Cleo were you the first one to arrive at the crime scene? " Sayu asked.

" Well yeah. " Cleo answered.

" And who was there next? " Sayu asked.

" Kumo then followed shortly afterwards by Ramos and Katsu. " Cleo replied.

" I see, then it becomes clear. " Syu said.

" What does? " William asked, his tone bordering on yelling.

" You interfered with the killer's plan. " Sayu said.

" Huh? " William said, now confused.

" Kagura did you know that bash is an acronym sometimes used by the police. " Sayu said.

" Well yeah, it stands for Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard. It's also a verb for strike violently. Bash is a term commonly used...by..pilots. " Kagura said with realization crossing her face.

A term that pilots commonly use, then it all fits together.

" The killer is you Kumo. " I declared.

" Wait WHAT! No you've got it wrong. " Kumo said as her panic soared.

" Now it all makes sense, you were the one who listened in on a conversation about me and Mikio. " I said as the puzzle pieces fell together.

" No no no no no no. " Kumo kept saying.

" You spent time in the storage room, time in which you found the bat for Alyara's pinata. " Kagura said.

" And when I started to become suspicious of you, you couldn't immediately go to the crime scene and make sure the letter was found and that you wiped away all evidence. " William said.

" Plus you were the one to conveniently find the letter after you were pushed to the ground. " Sayu said.

" You were also one of the people working on the autopsy and supporting Kouki so you wouldn't look suspicious. " Cleo said.

" All very fine theories but your missing one important detail, I'm not covered in blood. If I did move the body then I would still have been covered in blood. " Kumo said.

" Prove that! " Kumo yelled.

This isn't going to work if she's yelling stuff like that. I need to wait until she says something with a contradiction in it.

" Come on! "

" I'm waiting. "

" You've got nothing! " Kumo yelled stuff like that until she said something with a contradiction in it.

" If I moved the body then wouldn't I have been covered in blood. " Kumo said.

" Kumo, where's your jacket? " I asked.

" Huh? " Kumo said.

" Your jacket, you know the item of clothing that you weren't wearing when you rubbed your arms in the fridge. " I said.

" I...I " Kumo began.

" Don't say that you lost it, that's not an excuse at this point. " William said.

" I...I... " Kumo kept saying.

" Kouki let's go over this case one last time before we begin the vote. " Kagura said.

" Right here's everything that happened:

 _Kumo listened in on a conversation that told her how close I was to Mikio. Using this information, she forged a letter to Mikio saying I found the speakers we had been looking for. Before she gave Mikio the letter she went into the storage room and took a metal bat and crowbar. Mikio soon arrived after expecting to find me but in the darkness he couldn't see anyone. And that's when the killer struck, injuring Miko on the ribs and killing him with a blow to the head. While Kumo was busy cleaning up the evidence, Miko wrote a dying message and covered it up. With that done he finally died. Kumo then covered the metal bat with Mikio's blood. She then wrapped her jacket around Mikio's head and dragged him to the fridge. She placed the body and the bat in the fridge and proceed to lower the temperature to give the illusion that the weapon was there for much longer than reality._

 _After that was done, she cleaned his wounds and covered them up to disguise her involvement. Kumo left for her room to prepare for the party and to give her an alibi. When the body was discovered she acted just as shocked as everyone else. Everything was going according to plan until William started to accuse her. She managed to shake him but she arrived at the crime scene too late. Kumo did her best to continue her plan but it was too late, the damage was done. However she saw an opportunity to get back on track when William arrived at the crime scene. She used his accusatory nature so that he would begin to suspect me when the letter was discovered. What she didn't count on was how throughout other's would be in investigating her crime._

" That's the truth isn't it, your plan failed all because William was suspicious of you, Kumo. " I said.

 _" *sigh*_ I guess there's no point in avoiding it now, your right Kouki it was me all along. " Kumo admitted.

" B-But why? " Megan asked.

" Because while I may have acted different, the walls were still closing in on me. " Kumo said.

" And when Monokuma presented us with a motive, it only made the walls close in more. I'm an only child and my parents are at the age where anything bad can happen and they need help. Especially my mother, she just got over a serous illness but the doctors said that it is likely that she'll relapsed. " Kumo said.

" If that is true, then what about us, what about the time we spent together. " Megan said as she cried.

" All the time I spent amongst you guys was true and I guess part of me wanted to get caught. To be stopped or punish because deep down I knew what I was doing was wrong. " Kumo said.

" Okay go ahead and cast your votes but promise me you'll always look to the future and never look back. " Kumo said.

" I promise we will. " I said as I casted my vote.

A lottery machine popped out of the floor and the three slots began to spin. All three of them landed on Kumo's pixilated face.

" Congratulation, you've found out who the blackened was. " Monokuma said.

" Now then I've prepared a very special punishment for Kumo Yomohiro, the Ultimate Pilot. Let's give it everything we've got, IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME!. " Monokuma said.

" Goodbye everyone and thank you for being my friends. " Kumo said.

A bell rose up out of the floor. Monokuma took a hammer and slammed down onto the bell.

* * *

 **Game Over**

 **Kumo Yomohiro has been found guilty.**

 **Time for the punishment!**

* * *

 **A collar shoots out of one of the curtains and latches onto Kumo's neck. She is pulled away into pitch black darkness.** **Next a movie screen descends and we see Kumo tied to a seat of a World War 2 style plane.**

 **The Movie screen shows a title: _Dogfight._**

 **Soon the plane's engines start and they take off. The plane flies high and higher until it reaches the clouds. It begins to do extreme maneuvers that causes Kumo's nose to start bleeding. The plane finishes it's maneuvers and flies straight down to the ground. The crashes and begins to burn but somehow Kumo manged to drag herself out of the wreckage.** **She crawls slowly until she reaches out towards us but with a sad expression, her hand drops to the ground, never to move again.**

 **The movie screen then shows us a message written in the clouds. It reads: Despairingly awesome , right!**

* * *

What happened after that I don't know. All I remember was falling asleep with the memory of how Kumo died staying with me forever.

 **End Of Chapter 1**

 **Students remaining: 14?**

 **Kouki Yoshi: Alive**

 **Alyara Sardonyx: Alive**

 **Mikio Kikumori:** **Deceased**

 **Serra Raven: Unknown**

 **Ramos Luciano: Alive**

 **Milo Karrick: Alive**

 **Cleopatra Davis: Alive**

 **Megan Winslow: Alive**

 **Katsu Gekai: Alive**

 **Kagura Miyamoto: Alive**

 **Sayu Akizuki: Alive**

 **Axel Takashima: Alive**

 **William Gerardo: Alive**

 **Aima Jespersen: Alive**

 **Dawson Tall: Alive**

 **Kumo Yomohiro: Deceased**

* * *

 **Author's notes**

I felt that writing this class trial was a little difficult for me but I hope you enjoy it either way. And yes Kumo's execution is called dogfight. Hope to see you next time

Question: What companies do you think survived the Tragedy?


	8. Chapter 2: Where There's Smoke Part 1

I had a nightmare last night. Who wouldn't after losing three friends, one right after another. After I woke up from the nightmare I looked at the clock at it read midnight. I tried going back to sleep but I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried sleep was impossible. So to pass the time I wrote down all my experiences. Every last detail I wrote down. Maybe writing it down will help me somehow.

When it was 7 am I immediately left for the cafeteria. I made a cup of hot chocolate and waited. For what I don't know. Maybe for our friends to come back or to wake up and find out it was all a dream. When neither of those things happened I started to drink the hot chocolate.

" You know I hear hot chocolate is better with milk in it. " Kagura said.

" I wouldn't know, never tried it like that. " I said.

" Here I'll try it with you. " She said.

She brought out two cartons of a cow in one those poses that makes me think things.

" This is called Dewicious milk, I know a guy Nico something who made a joke about this milk and I never looked at it the same way but it's the only milk we got. " Kagura said.

She poured it into both our hot chocolates and we sat into comfortable silence. That is until everyone else came into the cafeteria. Then it got depressing.

" Oh I'm surprise you two are sitting together, you must be so bold after what happened last when somebody was alone. " Katsu said.

" We can trust each other no matter what. " I said.

" I wouldn't. " William said.

" You don't get speak, EVER. " Cleo said.

" What did I do? " William asked.

" How do I put this nicely, because you almost got us killed by voting for the wrong person, which by the way you still haven't apologized to. " Cleo said.

" Whatever. " William said as he walked out of the cafeteria.

" Anyway, I think we should build a memorial to Kumo and Mikio. " Kagura said.

" A chance to honor the dead, what a lovely decision. " Katsu said with unbridled enthusiasm.

So we built a memorial to Kumo and Mikio. Miko's memorial had flowers and his sketchbook of plants. While Kumo's had her goggles and model airplanes. Katsu then laid quilts of their faces next to the memorials.

" How did you make something so accurate? " I asked.

" I'm very good with my hands. " Katsu answered.

" Upupupupupu, did I hear hopeful things. " Monokuma said as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

" Until you showed up. " Kagura said.

" Ahhh, don't be mean especially after I brought you a present. " Monokuma said.

" Oh joy what did you do this time? " Aima said with so much sarcasm you can't even to being to describe it.

" I simply unlocked the second floor of the building, enjoy. " Monokuma said as he disappeared almost as quickly as he appeared.

" Trap? " I asked Kagura.

" Trap, but we should go anyways I have a feeling Monokuma will force us to go if we don't. " Kagura replied.

The first thing we saw as soon as we exited the stairs was a pool entrance. We all entered and found an exercise room and two locker rooms A note was attached to each locker room door. It read : _Only Ephones will allow you to enter the locker rooms. You can only enter the door which belongs to your gender. Also borrowing or stealing Ephones is now against school rules._

 **School Rules has been updated:**

 **8\. Borrowing or stealing Ephones is not allowed.**

" Axel thinks that will make it harder for a killer. " Axel says.

" Speaking in third person must be so hard. " Cleo said.

" Not really. " Axel replied.

There was also a men's and woman's restroom on the floor but nothing interesting was found in them. We found some class rooms with some crazy wallpaper. One of the class rooms went with a zebra theme. I round Ramos attempting to punch the metal slabs that cover the area where windows should be.

" You can't break it? " I asked.

" Yeah, it's like whoever put this here knew that I couldn't even dent it but how would they know something like that. " Ramos said with a look of deep concentration on his face.

Lastly we come to the library. Books upon books filled shelves that seemed to be unlimited. There wasn't any decent light here so if you wanted to read you would have to do it somewhere else. Dust also covered every square inch of this place.

I sneezed and Kabura said " Bless you. "

I ran a finger along a table and when I stopped, there was so much dust on it that it was a wonder any of this air was breathable.

" Someone forgot to clean here. " Milo said.

" No kidding, it could take weeks to clean this place. " Alyara said.

" There might be a way to escape here if we just research it. This library appears to have a vast collection of knowledge. " Sayu said.

Sayu Akizuki, there's a mystery I would like to solve. She stays away from most of the group and she barely talks. But during the class trial, she's able to solve every mystery. We don't even know her talent and yet whenever some one asks it's always the same response " Another time. "

This is going to drive me crazy the more I continue to think about it but no matter what I feel, I can't drop it. Maybe it will be important later or maybe it won't but I don't like unsolved mysteries. Especially in this situation.

" I guess it would be worth a try but only if others agree to do it. " Katsu said.

" Then we now what we're going to do, everyone find a book you think can help us escape and read it. " Kagura said.

Maybe I should find a book on Sayu Akizuki, something that will help. Better yet, school records they should have student profiles including Sayu's. With new found determination I set out to find more information on the mystery that is Sayu Akizuki.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

Hey everyone, I'm here with Chapter 2. With Danganronpa 3 done this is my only Danganronpa content that I can look forward to on a regular basis at least until V3 comes out. I'm starting up another syoc while this is still going on though I probably won't update that one as often as this because Danganronpa is my priority. IF your interested in submitting another OC for Star Wars or for the heck of it, please do the new story needs a lot of help. See you soon.

Question: What character from another Danganronpa fanfic would you like to see in here as a reference or cameo?


	9. Chapter 2: Where There's Smoke Part 2

Turns out exploring a dusty library takes a lot longer than you think. It's not like it had a catalogue or an entire section labeled _escape plans for Rising Angel._ So we all split up to look for anything that could get us out of here. Kagura and I ended up pairing with each other. We ended up looking through a section that we soon found out was police related.

I had just put a book I was reading away when I accidently knocked another off the shelf. Dust blew into the air as it hit the floor. I picked it up and read the title. _Famous fallen officers and their service history._ For some reason I began to look through the book, I felt I was meant to read it. I guess that's my Ultimate Luck for you.

I stopped on a certain page when I read the name of the officer on it. _Officer Miyamoto was an outstanding officer who worked in the bomb defusal squad. He disarmed many bombs that would have led to a great deal of civilian casualties. Sadly his life was cut short when he was called in to defuse a bomb that a man had set up to kill him and his family. Sadly the bomb went off with Officer Miyamoto at the center of the blast. His actions led to the family being saved. He was awarded posthumously._

" Hey Kagura there's an Officer Miyamoto here, any chance you two are related? " I asked.

Kagura came around the corner and I handed her the book. She read it and a smile came across her face but it was a smile I hadn't seen before. A sad smile, it was if there were layers of happiness and sadness intertwined to form a sort of harmony between the two.

" Yes I knew him, he was my father. " She said with a hint of remembrance in her voice.

" I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. " I said.

" No it's okay I made peace with it a long time ago. " She said as she put the book back on its shelf.

" You remind of me lot of him. " She said.

" I do? " I asked.

" Yeah, he was strong, selfless and kind. Always wanting to do the right thing no matter. I think you two would get along well. " She said.

" I wish I could have met such a great man. " I said.

" He'd say the same about you. " She said she handed me another book. We then proceeded to read in comfortable silence. After an unknown amount of time had passed Kagura got up.

" I need to check in on something, you okay if I leave you here? " She asked.

" Yeah, Milo needs some help anyways. " I said.

She then left the library. I walked up to Milo but he was laughing at something. As I got closer I realized that he was laughing at a book.

" What are you reading? " I asked.

" See for yourself. " Milo said as he handed me a book called _The very best Totally wrong Test answers_ _._

" What is the highest pitch a human can hear? Answer, Mariah Carey. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed? Answer, At the bottom. What is the main industry in Persia? Answer, cats. " I read.

" And there's a lot more in there. " Milo said.

Milo put the book back on the shelf but as he was doing so I noticed a burn on his left arm.

" What's that? " I asked referring to his burn.

" It's nothing. " He said quickly covering it up.

" It didn't look like nothing. " I said.

" It's an old memory and one I don't like to remember. " Milo said.

" Milo I'm going to respect your decision but I'm also a little concern that your not being 100% open with us. " I said.

" Don't worry, it's nothing to worry about. " Milo said.

" Alright. " I said, still unsure of whether or not to press the issue.

I then went about regular business, regular as you can get in this situation. Just as I was about to leave the library I saw a door of the the side, partly concealed by various shelfs. I walked over and opened the door, feeling a rush of air flow pass me as the door swung open. I looked in the room expecting to find more books but instead I found files in the shelfs of the room.

I walked over to one of the shelfs and took a file out of it. I opened the file and to my surprise I found it was my student profile. I put the file back on the shelf and took another off. This time it was Kagura's student profile. I grabbed another profile and this one really surprised me.

" Chiari Yamamoto, an Ultimate Lucky Student from Hope's Peak. How many Ultimate Lucky students are there? " I asked.

I grabbed another profile and this one was stranger. " Mami Akiyama, Ultimate Patient. Wait, that's a thing. Says here she survived an unknown disease. These talents just keep getting weirder. " I said.

Many more profiles were on the shelf but only a few caught my attention. I pulled another one from the shelf.

" Lec Johnson, the Ultimate Rock Climber. Jeez, it looks like he doesn't use safety equipment at all. He could give Aima a run for her money. " I said.

I grabbed on more file " Daichi Etsuko, Ultimate Psychiatrist and pain the ass. Wait someone actually put that in his profile. Man, Milo is going to have a field day with that. " I said.

I put the profile back onto the shelf but my Ultimate Luck made another profile fall to the ground. I picked it up and examined it. The title was _Bizarre crimes, accidents and mysterious criminal figures in the world._ Curiosity got the better of me and I opened the profile.

" Holy shi... " I began to say.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

Hey everyone I'm back. I've been catching up on a favorite anime of mine, Assassination Classroom. Then I watched the ending and let's just say it cause some emotional trauma. It wasn't bad or anything but a favorite character died in a way that caused emotional trauma. But I'm good now. And now to plug my other SYOC. Please if your interested and have even a basic knowledge of Star Wars, I encourage you to submit an OC.

Question: Favorite moment so far?


	10. Chapter 2: Where There's Smoke Part 3

I stood there staring at a horrifying sight. A person stabbed by scissors and being suspended by said scissors. Blood was everywhere, on the wall and on the floor. It was the most gruesome death I had ever seen. What kind of sick person would do that to someone else. The file said the person responsible for this crime was known as Genocide Jack.

" Age: Unknown, Gender: Unknown, basically the police don't know anything about this serial killer. " I said.

I flipped to the next page and this one surprised me even more. It was a man hanging from the ceiling, holding a doll in his right hand.

" This man apparently committed a great deal of crimes. Breaking into a doll shop, mass poisoning, and attempted murder. When those things didn't work, he hung himself in front of a preschool. The police weren't find out the guy's identity. It's like he never existed, he must have been someone before and yet nothing. " I read.

Cases of missing identities or identities that had exist but had shared similarities with others kept popping up the more I examined the file. A name kept popping too, the Creator. According to police reports, this person is responsible for giving new identities to people who pay the fee. The work the Creator does is so effective and detailed it took months, several special consultants including alumni from both Hope's Peak and Rising Angel, and questionable deals to get even a single lead on who the Creator is. Just when the police think they're about to catch the Creator, they slipped away.

All leads had been used and new ones weren't appearing so the case became cold. Though the Creator's activities only seemed to increase after their near capture. Whoever this Creator is I don't think the police will be catching them anytime soon. I decided to take the file with me for further research but as I was about to leave I noticed something else of the shelf. It was Sayu Akizuki's student profile.

I pulled it off the shelf and read it. And when I say read it, I mean basically look at a lot of black lines.

" What the, why is her profile redacted? " I asked.

" Whose file is redacted? " Sayu asked.

I turned around and Sayu was standing in the doorway.

" No one in particular. " I lied.

Sayu just kept giving me a look that was beginning to unnerve me.

" What brings you here? " I asked, wanting to change the subject.

" Monokuma just made his night time announcement and we couldn't find you so I volunteered to go looking for you. " Sayu said.

" Right, well I'll just go to my room now. " I said.

Sayu walked out of the library. I didn't think she would buy my story but maybe that's my Ultimate Luck for you. I took both files and left the library. It was uncomfortably silent as I made my way back to my room. I was filled with relief when I entered my room and sat down at my desk. I began to read both files thoroughly, not caring if I got no sleep at all. I then quickly fell asleep. I soon awoke to the sound of my doorbell ringing.

I got up and answered the door. Kagura was at the door looking a little mad.

" Where have you been, you missed breakfast. " She said.

" Sorry must have slept through my alarm. " I said.

" Well come on, breakfast is the most important meal of the day and you haven't had it. " Kagura said.

" Alright I'm coming. " I said with a little chuckle.

We ate breakfast, occasionally chatting about whatever came to mind. Soon the meal was finished but we still kept talking. Talking with Kagura had become natural, like I could say anything and she would understand.

" We should probably get going, everyone else is in the library doing escape research again. " Kagura said.

" Yeah, we should do that. " I said.

So we got and went to the library. And like Kagura said, everyone was already there reading a book. I walked over to where Megan was and asked her if she found anything.

" Not anything relevant but I did find a book on how to run a successful independent business. " Megan said.

" You'd like to have an independent business one day? " I asked.

" Sort of, my mom is an independent business owner and I'd like to take over the business one day so I'm learning all I can to do so. " Megan said.

" Is she also into sewing? " I asked.

" Yeah, she's the one who taught me how to sew in the first place. " Megan said.

" Eventually I got so good she began to sell the stuff I made in her store. They were an instant hit. People couldn't get enough of them but... " Megan said.

" But what? " I asked.

" Nothing, I was just thinking about something. " Megan said.

Yeah that seems to be going around lately. Megan then went back to reading her book. I checked in with Cleo next.

" You find something important? " I asked.

"If you count a book on how to care for reptiles in modern house life then yeah. " Cleo said.

" This library seems to have every kind of book except one that would help us. " I said.

" It's not like this type of thing has happened before, it's so unheard of that I bet if you told anyone they'd think it would be a plot out of an anime or video game. " Cleo said.

" You have a point. " I admitted.

" I should publish a book on animal care in modern houses. " Cleo said.

" Why is that? " I asked.

" A: Because I'm the Ultimate Veterinarian and B: I have some experience taking care of multiple animals in one house. " Cleo said.

" How many? " I asked

" Three cats, a dog, a tank full of fish and an iguana. " Cleo said.

" That's a lot of animals to take care of. " I said.

" It's not like I was alone, I had sisters to help me but they always chose a particular animal to focus on while I prioritised all of the animals. I never picked a favorite. " Cleo said.

" Seems like a lot to handle. " I said.

" It did seem like that from time to time but I managed to balance school, volunteering at animal clinics and my homelife so it all worked out in the end. " Cleo said.

Monokuma then appeared on a monitor. " Ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 pm, as such it is officially nighttime. "

" We should probably go. " I said.

" Yeah. " Cleo agreed.

We all made our way back to our rooms and entered them. However a sense of dread soon set within me. There's no way that Monokuma is just going to let us anything like research on way to get us out of here. He's up to something and were completely in the dark on what he's doing. I guess the only thing we can do is try and survive the oncoming storm whether we want to or not.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

I really got nothing else to say right now so let's get to the question.

Question: What do you think the 15th Division of the Future Foundation should be? Just a thought that came to me, cause I felt that an organization like the Future Foundation needed a 15th division to break ties in votes.


	11. Chapter 2: Where There's Smoke Part 4

Another typical day in Rising Angel. At least that's what I hoped for when I woke up. By this point I think everyone has accepted this situation as reality so are these thoughts a manifestation of our hope to escape or our despair in needing to escape from reality. As you can tell I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. My worry over what Monokuma has planned ended up costing me hours of sleep.

At least I didn't have a nightmare last night, so that's something. I got out of bed and began getting ready for the day. As soon as I finished breakfast Monokuma popped up on a nearby monitor, psychotic grin and all.

" I can't take this slow pace anymore, no has died in a super long time and it's boring to look at. No one wants to watch high school kids do high school stuff, and if that's what you're here for then go read a highschool fanfic. On second thought stay please read and review. Anywho I've prepared a motive for everyone so please come down to the gym for some really juicy stuff. " Monokuma said.

Minutes later we entered the gym with a sense of dread. We waited for a few more minutes. Then Monokuma popped out of the stage.

" Hi everyone, miss me? " Monokuma said with a joyous tone.

" Not really no. " Milo said.

" Shut up no asked you. " Monokuma said.

" But you did technically ask. " Milo said.

" Don't get smart with me mister, I'm still the headmaster and I can still give you detention. " Monokuma said with steam rising out oh his ears. I don't how that's even possible.

" Milo, we don't know what Monokuma will do in detention especially after what we've already see him do. " I said.

" I know he just really ticks me off. " Milo said.

" Ahhh and here I had something special prepared, ah well next time I guess. Now by now I'm betting you've already guessed why I've brought you all here. " Monokuma said.

" You're going to present us with another motive. " I said.

" Correct, my your beary perceptive. It took a while to dig up this stuff but you'd be surprised what a little moola will do in the right places. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you, the biggest, dirtiest, most embarrassing secrets that you have. " Monokuma said as he pulled a rope, releasing a bunch or paper from the ceiling.

A single piece of folded paper drifted onto my hand. I quickly opened it, not caring that I was in front of a bunch of people. It read: _Kouki once punched his best friend while watching the first ten minutes of a horror movie because he was really scared._ While that is sort of embarrassing I'm not kill anyone over it. If this is the worst Monokuma has on me it kinda makes me feel a little good about myself.

" I wouldn't kill anyone over this. " I said referring to my secret.

" He's right, there's no way I would kill anyone because of this. " Kagura said.

" That might be true for you two but can you say the same about your fellow classmates. " Monokuma said.

I turned around and was shocked by what I saw. Megan's hand trembled as it looked like she was reading her letter over and over again. William had his letter crumbled up in his hand. Milo was tearing his apart. Finally Sayu broke the silence.

" How, how did you get this? " Sayu said, holding up her folded letter.

" Which one are you talking about? " Monokuma asked.

" Both of them. " Sayu answered.

" Well the first one I did a little digging, it was kinda easy with the world being as it is right now. And the second one, well let's just say I could put two and two together. " Monokuma said.

" I see, once I get out of here that will have to be rectified. " Sayu said as she tore up her letter. She then left the gym in a calm and controlled manner. Which made me even more nervous. To me not having a reaction to this just tells me you don't want anyone to see your reaction which worries me. Soon everyone left gym, casting looks at each other. Monokuma had succeeded in driving the group a part, now it's up to me and Kagura to bring them back together.

" We should probably start at the library, a few of them left their things there. " Kagura said.

" Exactly what I was thinking. " I said.

It was an uneventful trip to the library. When we got there Megan, William and Katsu were already there.

" I'm not trying to find out your secret I'm just asking if you've seen my sewing needles. " Megan said.

" We'll I haven't seen them so just back off. " William said.

" We really should not be arguing like this, lets just reveal all our secrets right now. " Katsu suggested.

" Yeah right like I'm going to reveal a weakness to you. " William said.

" It was just a suggestion you don't have to be so mean. " Katsu said while he started to cry.

" Look just use the sewing kit Monokuma gave us. It should work just as well. " William said.

" Like I'm going to use anything from that bear, I don't trust him. Besides they're bright red and I'd like my needles to be marron. " Megan said.

" Whatever I'm out of here. " William said as he brushed past Megan and Katsu.

" Come to think of it I'm missing a few syringes myself. " Katsu said.

" When was the last time you saw them? " I asked

" Not long ago, it was a little before Monokuma called us to the gym. In fact when Monokuma called us to the gym I was using my syringes right here. " Katsu said.

" Huh, I left my needles in here too. " Megan said.

" Don't worry we'll find your things but first I'd like to rebuild some trust between us. " Kagura said.

" Sure what do you want to do? " Megan said.

" If your okay with it, I'd like to reveal our secrets to each other that way Monokuma's motive doesn't affect us. " Kagura said.

" I'm okay with that but only if everyone else reveal theirs, mine is a little ridiculous and embarrassing. " Megan said.

" I'll reveal mine. " I said.

" Yes I will too. " Katsu said.

" I'll tell you mine. " Kagura said.

" I'll go first, one time when watching a horror movie my friend tried to scare me. I was so startled that I punched him. " I said.

" Wow yours seems not as bad as mine. " Megan said.

" It's my turn, I watched my father die on national television. It took months of going to a therapist to even get me even thinking about going back to school. " Kagura said.

" Kagura. " I said.

" I'm fine Kouki but thank you. " Kagura said.

Katsu leaned over to Megan and whispered " No one can be this dense. "

" Give them time I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually. " Megan whispered back.

" Looks like I'm up next. I cut off my own limbs and stitch them back on. I'm very good with my hands. " Katsu said.

" Well that's neat and not creepy. " I said.

" Thank you, now Megan it's your turn. " Katsu said.

" I-I guess it is, I have a fear of cars. It started after my cousin Edward died in a car accident. He gave me the needles that I have been using all my life and I gave him the first doll I ever made. I never got into another car after he died. " Megan said.

" That's why your so intent on finding your needles, because your cousin gave them to you. " I said.

" Yeah, I would just die if I lost them. " Megan said.

Suddenly Monokuma appeared on a nearby monitor.

" This is a school announcement, it is now 10 pm as such it is officially night time. " Monokuma said.

" Come on guys we should go to bed. " Kagura said.

We all got up and left the library. I entered my room expecting to fall asleep as soon as I laid down but the universe decided to do one more thing before I slept. Somebody was knocking on my door. I opened it to find William standing in front of me.

" Can I come in? " William asked.

" Sure. " I answered.

William stepped in and observed the room.

" I wanted to apologize for my actions during the class trial and investigation. The reason I haven't apologize before now is well because I don't really apologize that often. " William said.

" So why now? " I asked.

" My secret, that my parents are rich and famous and they don't even care about me. It made me realize that life is to short to let something like an apology go unsaid so here I am, making up for lost time. " William said.

" I'm just glad that you came to talk to me, I didn't like the fact that we weren't talking. " I said.

William chuckled and said " You remind me of someone, his name is Romeo Hoshi. He's a singer but he doesn't like performing, he still does it because of his fans. He cares about other people just like you. "

" You know the famous Romeo Hoshi? " I asked.

" Yeah I wrote a song for him once. " William said.

" I'm glad we got to have a conversation, maybe we can have one later. " I said.

" Yeah, I'd like that. " William said as he left the room and I got into bed. I slept very peacefully that night.

I awoke the next morning to the smell of pancakes. I quickly left my room for the cafeteria. I entered and found Kagura cooking pancakes.

" Kouki you're awake, that's good. Come and get some while they're still hot. " Kagura said.

" What's the occasion? " I asked as I grabbed a plate.

" Everyone was acting very sad so I decided to cook everyone a treat. " Kagura said.

" Here let me help. " I said.

"Well I kinda need a recipe book for later use so can go to the library to get one? " Kagura asked.

" Yeah I can do that. " I said.

So I left the cafeteria and headed for the library. I opened the door and saw someone sleeping on the table.

" Hey come on that's no place to sleep. " I said but as I got closer I realized that their head was laying on it's side and was facing another direction. I saw their head lying in a pool of blood. I saw William Gerardo, the Ultimate Songwriter dead on the library's table.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

Hi guys, I'm back and with another death. I felt it's been too long since we've haven't move the plot forward so I decided there needed to be a death. Just as a heads up I'm planning on more Danganronpa projects in the future. I'm also considering doing more than that while also broadening to other anime and franchises. So look out I'm going to be staying here for a while.

Question: Whats your character's movie?


	12. Chapter 2: Where There's Smoke Part 5

William Gerardo is dead. That thought kept repeating in my head like a broken record that's been played too many times. I stood there just staring at his body for who know's how long just staring. Eventually movement came back to my body and I ran out of the library. I ran all the way to the kitchen in the cafeteria. I was breathing hard. not from running but from seeing another friend dead.

" Kouki, what's wrong? " Kagura said as she finished the last pancake.

I was about to speak when Monokuma appeared on a nearby monitor.

" A body has been discovered. After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the Class Trial will begin. " Monokuma said.

" Where? " Kagura simply asked.

" The library. " I answered.

Kagura and I walked silently to the library. When we got there several people were already there. Megan, Katsu, Milo and Cleo were gathered around the body. Soon everyone else arrived.

" Dam it, another one has happened. " Ramos said.

" B-But why, sure William was kind of a jerk but who would want to kill him? " Megan asked.

" That is exactly what we're here to find out. " Kagura said.

" Sounds like you'll be needing this. " Monokuma said as he again popped out of nowhere.

" I give to you the Monokuma file #2, enjoy. " Monokuma said as he disappeared.

Our Ephones buzzed, indicating we've received the new file. I opened the notification, wanting to get this over with. The file read: _Victim's name is William Gerardo, the Ultimate Songwriter. Time of death is 10:30 pm. Cause of death is a single sharp object._ That's it, well at this point I'll take anything I can get. I looked aroun and it looked like everyone else had finished reading the file.

" I'll get started on the autopsy. " Cleo said.

" Please, allow me to assist. " Katsu said.

Cleo and Katsu walked over to the body and began to examine it.

" We should talk to them later, see what they've discovered. " Kagura said.

" Yeah, let's start looking around. " I said.

 **Monokuma file #2 has been added to the Truth bullets.**

I checked around the library for anything unusual. I found nothing out of the ordinary, like no forced entry at all. Which tells me that the killer either hid in here before William came in or he trusted the killer or thought nothing of them when they entered. Either way I think I can rule out forced entry. Looking at the body and the amount of blood currently on the table I can say with certainty that the injury that caused that amount of blood to be spilt was at least administered here in this room.

 **Lack of forced entry has been added to the Truth bullets.**

 **Theorized position of the Killer has been added to the Truth bullets.**

 **Amount of Blood on the table has been added to the Truth bullets.**

" Hey Cleo you done with the autopsy yet? " I asked.

" Yeah, I guess. I was able to confirm a lot of what the Monokuma file says except it forgot to mention that there are two injuries. One stab wound to the heart and the other is a slash wound across the neck. The problem is I can't tell which one killed him and which one was added after death. There appears to be no sign of struggle so I have to assume the killer took William by surprise. His death was instantaneous so no dying message. " Cleo said.

" Thank you Cleo, if you don't mind I'd like to take a closer look. " I said.

" Go ahead. " Cleo said.

I starting looking through William's body

" Sorry William but this is to find your killer. " I said.

I found nothing unusual until I got to his hands. They were clutched around something, but what I couldn't tell. I used all my strength to open his hand and a piece of paper fell out. I picked it up and read it. _I have what you want...Come to...at...come alone._ Sounds like somebody wanted somebody to come to the library at an unknown time and it appears to have ended in William's death. Then I noticed something, a spot in the blood spill that looks like it formed a star except the top point was curved in a circle fashion and the points on the rest of the star like shape were only slightly curved. Then i noticed a few drops on the table, almost as if something soaked up the blood and was carried away.

 **Cleo's autopsy has been added to the Truth bullets.**

 **Mysterious letter has been added to the Truth bullets**

" Hey Kouki, I'm finished here but I have a place I want to check out. Want to come along? " Kagura asked.

" Sure. " I said.

We traveled all the way to the kitchen. We walked up to a knife set hanging on the wall but something was off about it, a knife was missing.

" I noticed a knife was missing when I came here to make pancakes but I quickly forgot about it. However when I saw William's body I knew that the two were connected. You see what I see. " Kagura said.

" Yeah but which weapon was murder weapon and which wasn't. " I said.

" It's obvious which is the murder weapon. " Sayu said.

I turned around and saw Sayu standing in the doorway. This seems to be happening a lot I've noticed.

" Sayu, do you know who killed William? " I asked.

" I have a good guess. " Sayu answered.

" Would you like to share your opinion, it could be critical to the case. " I said.

" If I did that then you wouldn't be able to reach closure. " Sayu said.

" People's lives are on the line. " Kagura said.

" Which is why I'll share my opinion during the Class Trial no sooner or later. " Sayu said as she left.

Monokuma then appeared on a monitor.

" Soo have you had enough traumatic events for one evening. Well tooo bad cause we're about to start the Class Trail. You all know where to go. "

 **Missing knife has been added to the Truth bullets.**

Minutes later we all stood in front of the crimson door. Slowly one by one we entered the door. Finally I remained outside the door, strengthening my nerves I entered. Prepared for a deadly Class Trial.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

While I did not submit an OC to the Spera dig, I was still interested in it and I'm sad to see it go. I could just tell it was going to be good. Until next time.

Question: Who do you think the blackened is?


	13. Chapter 2: Where There's Smoke Part 6

" Let's begin with a simple explanation of the class trial. Basically you guys debate on who you think committed the murder and then you vote. If the majority of you vote for the correct person then only the blackened will be punished however if you vote incorrectly then everyone but the blackened will be punished. " Monokuma said.

" Did we really need an explanation of the class trial, we already know how to do this. If this was a video game then the player would definitely be bored at the repetitiveness of repeating the rules every time we have a class trial. " Milo said.

" Moving on to more important stuff, we need to determine exactly what happened to William. He may not have been my most favorite person but he didn't deserve to die. " Aima said.

" First, let's review the circumstances and events that led to William's body being discovered. I was the first person to wake up this morning, I went to the kitchen and started to make pancakes. Next, Kouki came in and we talked for a bit until I asked him to go get a cookbook from the library where he discovered William's body. He ran back to the kitchen where I was done making pancakes. Shortly after that the body discovery announcement occurred, so we left for the library. When we got there Megan, Katsu, Milo and Cleo had discovered the body. " Kagura said.

" Why were you guys there? " Axel asked.

" Well Megan and I wanted to go check the library one last time to see if we couldn't find our stuff. Milo was returning a comedy book and Cleo wanted more books on reptile care. " Katsu said.

" William's body was the first thing we noticed when we entered the library. I was about to begin an autopsy when you guys came. " Cleo said.

" We've established the series of events that led to William's body being discovered. So I guess the next step would be to establish the events of the crime. " Ramos said.

" An excellent suggestion, Kouki I believe you have evidence to present. " Sayu said.

Wait, she knows about that. How, I never saw her following me or examining evidence. She just keeps getting more mysterious by the minute.

" Yeah I do, I believe that the crime took place in the library. The killer was probably there ahead of time or entered when William wasn't paying attention or the killer was someone that William didn't suspect. " I said.

" Do you have proof to back up your claim? " Cleo asked.

" I do, actually. I searched the library and found no signs of forced entry. The door was forced opened, there were no signs of struggle in the library or on William's body. Plus the amount of blood on the table is too much for it not be from the wound on his neck. And since we found no blood elsewhere I'm going to assume that the wound was administered in the library, at that table. I'm willing to bet that either Cleo or Katsu can back me up. " I said.

" He's right, I looked over the wound and the only possibility is that the wound was administered at the library. " Katsu said.

" But what could have caused a wound like that, all sharp objects are accounted for. " Dawson said.

" That's actually not true. Kouki and Kagura should have a good idea on what I'm talking about. " Sayu said.

" You mean the missing knife from the kitchen. The knife would match up with the neck wound. " Kagura said.

" Wait, there's a knife missing from the kitchen? " Dawson asked.

" I suspected as much, there are no other objects that can cause a wound like that. Meaning the stab wound to William's heart is probably the fatal wound. " Cleo said.

" Okay so if a knife wasn't the murder weapon then what was? " Aima asked.

" Megan and Katsu, earlier you both claimed to be looking for very important items. What where these items? " Sayu asked.

" Huh, oh right. Well my item was a syringe filled with my homemade anesthetic. You'd be surprised at what you can make with what they have in the storage room. " Katsu said.

" My item were my needles, given to me by my cousin Edward before he died. I've been using them ever since. " Megan said.

" Wait Sayu, are you saying what I think your saying. " I said.

" If you think that I'm saying that one of those two items is the murder weapon, then yes. " Sayu said.

" Wait, hold on. We shouldn't accuse people just because an item that they had used in the past was used in a murder. " Milo said.

" I didn't say that the killer was Katsu or Megan, I only said that the murder weapon was one of those two items. I'm sure Cleo can back me up. " Sayu said.

" Yeah, either one of those two things could fit the description of the wound in William's chest. " Cleo said.

" Not really, if you look closely then you must notice the diameter of the wound. " Sayu said.

" Wait, you're right. The wound is too big to have come from a syringe, especially Katsu's. " Cleo said.

" My syringe is designed to be sharp and thin so the patient does not feel anything as the needle goes in. " Katsu said.

" Then that leaves Megan's needles. " I said.

" Kouki, I noticed you examining the bloodstain on the table. Did you notice anything strange? " Sayu said.

" Yeah, I noticed an area of the table that was surrounded in blood but a part of it looked like it was sucked up with a sponge. I then noticed small drops of blood leading away from the table. " I said.

" Then all the pieces are in place, Kouki I leave it to you. " Sayu said.

Leave it to me, what is she even saying I don't know who the killer is...unless. Sayu has been presenting evidence that separated, might seem insignificant or coincidental but put together. I'm starting to see everything involved in this murder but I need to convince everyone else. The fatal found, the missing items and the strange blood drops. There's only one person who I can think of that's involved in all these things.

" Megan, I think you're the killer. " I said.

" M-Me, why me. Just because my needles were the suspected murder weapon? " Megan said.

" It's not just that, though that is a major factor. You were the one who wanted to go to the library first and got a group together for that purpose. You were intent on finding your needles, so much so that you spent a lot of time in the library so it wouldn't be strange to see in you there. Then there's the strange blood drops I found. The blood was definitely soaked by something and since Kagura didn't mention any missing sponges since she's been in the kitchen, I'm going to assume that the thing that soaked up the blood was something clothing related. And since no else here has anything that can soak up that much blood, I can assume that a doll you created was present at the crime scene. And only you had access to your dolls since we've never seen them outside your room. " I said.

" W-Well that can be explained, ummmm. Hey, answer me this. If my needles were the murder weapon then why do I have them right now? " Megan said as she showed two bright red needles.

" I got you now. "

" You can't solve this, can you?! "

" This means I'm not the murderer. "

Megan continued to say stuff like that and while I wasn't convinced, I could sense doubt being planted in everyone else's minds. I need to show proof that those aren't her needles except no one has really gotten a close look at them. Wait, I know a few people who know that the description of the needles that Megan is holding doesn't match up with her actual needles.

" These are my needles, no doubt about it. " Megan said.

" Megan, earlier you said your needles were the color maroon and you claim that the needles you have right now are yours. I find that hard to believe because those needles are bright red. " I said.

" W-What, y-you notice that huh. Well there goes my argument. Yes, I am the killer and yes I did plan on killing someone when Monokuma revealed his motive. I placed a doll of mine on William so my magic would increase the odds of a successful kill. But I'm not the only one who's guilty here, William planned on killing either me or Katsu because he was the one who stole our items. He was the first person to get to the library. " Megan confessed.

" But why, your secret was a fear of cars and William's secret was that his parents do not care for him. " I said.

" Kouki, I think it's best if we reviewed the case before I explain that. " Sayu said.

" I'm looking forward to those answers. Okay here's everything that happened:

 _We can trace the roots of this crime to when Monokuma revealed his motive, the motive being deep dark secrets. While most of us were embarrassed or unaffected a few people panicked and took drastic action. William quickly made his way back to the library where he stole items important to Katsu and Megan. What he did not know was that Megan had already begun a plan to murder someone and when someone stole her needles, she selected William to be her victim. Megan planted a doll on William in an attempt to use her magic against him. She arrived at the library shortly before 10:30. William was waiting there and if he actually did intend to murder someone, I suspect he was the one who stole the knife from the kitchen. William probably had the needles on the table or somewhere within Megan's reach because she used those needles to kill William. She then used the kitchen knife to cut William's neck in the hope that in would confuse us on what was the fatal wound. Megan then took the evidence and disposed of it. The next morning she woke up Katsu in order to give herself an alibi._

and that's everything we know about the case. " I said.

" Thank you Kouki, I can take it from here. You see William lied to you about his secret, his secret was actually that he was raised by his Aunt and Uncle and he's claimed that they are his parents all this time. He lied because his parents are rich and famous but they practically abandoned him to live the high life. And he hated them for that. And Monokuma threatened to reveal that secret. As for Megan her secret is not that she has a fear of cars, her fear is a symptom of her secret. When Megan was 12 her cousin Edward was involved in a car accident that killed him. Megan saw the person responsible for Edward's death, her Uncle Albion. She never told anyone and the guilt had been consuming her all this time, so when Monokuma threatened to reveal said secret, Megan snapped. " Sayu said.

" I don't know about William but that is my secret. And I guess I did go a little insane. Please execute me as a criminal, not as a former friend. " Megan said.

A lottery machine popped out of the ground and it's slots began to roll. Megan's face was in every slot on it. Confetti shot out a minute later.

" Well done everyone. You managed to find William's killer. And now the part that everyone's been waiting for. I've prepared a very special punishment for Megan Winslow, the Ultimate Voodoo Dollmaker. IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME! " Monokuma said.

" I hope we meet again, in another life and another time. " Megan said.

A red button rose out of the floor. Monokuma takes a hammer and hits the bell. A chain shoots out from a curtain and drags Megan away.

* * *

 **Game Over**

 **Megan Winslow has been found guilty.**

 **Time for the punishment!**

* * *

 **Betrayal By Fire**

 **Darkness, then a spotlight shines on Megan. She is sitting on a swing set looking around nervously. Sweat rolls down her face as her eyes look at her surroundings. Suddenly a fire is lit behind her and it seems to be floating. Then it's starts moving side to side as the heat and light approach Megan. The darkness soon gives way to show a giant doll walking towards Megan, chanting something. She leaps off the swing set and starts running but more and more fires are lit and the chanting continues to get louder. Megan continues to run until she slams into a metal wall, she looks back and sees she is surrounded by the dolls. The dolls part way to reveal a boy. Megan with a shocked look on her face mutters " Edward. ". Edward tosses the torch onto Megan and the area is slowly consumed by fire.**

* * *

" Man of man, that one really got my blood pumping **.** By the way, for surviving this trial I have a reward for you. " Monokuma said.

" We don't want your damn reward. GO TO HELL! " I yelled with such hate in my voice that it shocked me.

" Kouki, please calm down. This is just what Monokuma wants, so please don't give in. I don't want to lose you. " Kagura said.

I took a few breaths and I calmed down slowly " Okay, I'm good now. Alright Monokuma, I'll play your game but I will beat you. " I said.

" Goodie, now follow me. " Monokuma said as he led us through a curtain. We walked for who knows how long before we came upon a metal door. Monokuma typed a password into a nearby keypad. The metal door slowly lowered to reveal glass. Then I noticed a familiar figure sitting inside the room.

" Hi guys, miss me. " Serra said.

* * *

 **End**

 **Of**

 **Chapter**

 **2**

 **Remaining Students: 12**

 **Kouki Yoshi: Alive**

 **Alyara Sardonyx: Alive**

 **Mikio Kikumori: Deceased**

 **Serra Raven: Alive**

 **Ramos Luciano: Alive**

 **Milo Karrick: Alive**

 **Cleopatra Davis: Alive**

 **Megan Winslow: Deceased**

 **Katsu Gekai: Alive**

 **Kagura Miyamoto: Alive**

 **Sayu Akizuki: Alive**

 **Axel Takashima: Alive**

 **William Gerardo: Deceased**

 **Aima Jespersen: Alive**

 **Dawson Tall: Alive**

 **Kumo Yomohiro: Deceased**

 **Author's notes**

Happy early Halloween everyone. I felt this Class Trial was a bit harder to write than the previous one but I did it so yay me. Until next time.

Question: Favorite ship in the story so far? Aside from the Kagura x Kouki ship I haven't really heard of any other ship so I wanted to hear where you think connections are. It doesn't have to be romantic, it could be friendship or rivalry. Doesn't really matter so long as it involves two characters.


	14. Chapter 3: Depths Of Darkness Part 1

What happened after that was a blur. Serra explained how Monokuma dropped her in a dark cell and how he's been doing stuff to her. She didn't go into details but I could see scars on her body and I know those weren't there before. Monokuma soon forced us to leave her but he promised that he'd let us see her again, which worried me. Maybe he let's us see Serra because it causes despair within us or maybe it's something else. I stopped trying to understand that bear a long time ago.

I woke up the next morning and got ready for the day. I entered the kitchen and found everyone waiting for me.

" You're late, Monokuma already announced that he's unlocked another floor for us. " Aima said.

" You can eat later, right now we need to explore the new level. " Cleo said.

" Don't worry, there's still pancakes from yesterday. " Kagura said.

" Okay, I guess I'll go with you guys. " I said.

The new floor was interesting. The classrooms were standard classrooms but the thing that made this floor stand out was the art room, the physics lab and a boxing area. I found Alyara in the art room.

" Hey, how are you doing? " I asked.

" I'm doing great. This place is amazing, everything an artist could ask for all in one place. " Alyara said.

" Sounds like you want to add pieces of art to this room. " I said.

" I do, before I didn't have a proper place to display art besides the hallway but now just looking at this stuff inspires me. " Alyara said.

" I can see why, some of this stuff is so amazing it's hard to believe it's real. " I said while looking at a painting of Rising Angel.

" Huh, that looks familiar. I've drawn something like that but I've never painted it. But if I would paint Rising Angel, that painting would look exactly like what I would do. " Alyara said.

" It isn't exactly plagiarism since whoever did this probably did it before you so maybe it's a fan. Your work is really well known, even I've seen some of your pieces. " I said.

" You've seen my work, I didn't think anyone outside of Rising Angel saw my work. " Alyara said.

" Everyone back home knows who you are, half the local art galleries have your paintings in them. " I said.

" I didn't know that. Thank you, I think you just boosted my confidence. " Alyara said.

" Anything for a friend. " I said.

" Hey guys, You have got to look at what we've found. " Aima said.

Me and Alyara left the art room and followed Aima. She led us to a room labeled Physics lab. We entered the room and saw a giant glass ball on a large metal pillar located near a catwalk.

" Found these two, we're still missing Ramos. " Aima said.

" We can show him this place later but right now I want to know what that thing is. " Cleo said.

" Axel thinks this thing is called an air purifier. It says so on this console. " Axel said as he pointed to the screen on the console. The screen read Air Purifier.

" Why would Rising Angel need with an air purifier? " I asked.

" Add that to the many questions we still have. " Milo said.

" That's not the only thing that's weird about this room, the storage room it has can only be locked and unlocked from the inside. Who designs doors like that? " Cleo asked.

" Who knows? At this point nothing surprises me. " Aima said.

" Is anyone else worried about Ramos? I haven't seen him in a while. " Dawson said.

" I'll go looking for him. " I said.

I searched the entire floor and found nothing. I finally decided to look in the place where he was the most likely to be at. The boxing room had everything a boxer could ask for from a ring to sand bags. One of those sandbags I found Ramos punching.

" Everyone is worried about you, especially Dawson. " I said.

" I know, just working out some anger. " Ramos said.

" Anger from what? Ramos, don't tell me you blame yourself for the killings? " I asked.

" I could have stopped them, I might not be the strongest person out there but I do have the strength to stop this. " Ramos said.

" You don't know that, for all you know you could have been murdered as well. " I said.

" I could have done something, I could have fought. I come from a poor family, had some anger issues and I was going down a path that wasn't going to end happily. But my parents tried to do something, we couldn't afford a therapist so they tried to get a to join a sports team. Except those cost money, money we didn't have. It seemed I was destined to live a short life until I found an underground boxing ring. At first I was terrible but I got better and it was a good place to vent. Eventually it stopped being a place to express anger and more of a place that made me happy. By the time I was 10 I had made a name for myself, even professionals knew me. The point I'm trying to make is that I beat the odds once so I can do it again. " Ramos said.

" Fighting isn't everything, some situations require you not to fight. Violence isn't always the answer. Tell me, if Kumo attacked you the same way she attacked Milo would you still be alive. No, because you're human and humans are vulnerable and make mistakes so don't you dare go blaming yourself for the murders. You're too good of a person to fall into despair. " I said as I left the boxing room.

I was on my way to the cafeteria when I saw Kagura exited the crimson doors. She saw me and gestured for me to come over.

" Good timing, I was just about to go and find you. " Kagura said.

" For what? " I asked.

" Not here, Monokuma is watching. Just follow me. " Kagura said as she grabbed my hand. When she grabbed I felt a spark and my hand suddenly became warm. The spark course through my body causing my face to blush. Wait, why am I thinking this?

Kagura led to me to the boys bathroom on the second floor. Before I could protest she dragged me into the bathroom. She then walked up to the supply closet at the end of the bathroom and pulled me inside. She pushed the wall at the end and it disappeared. We walked into the room and I saw a laptop sitting on a table. Kagura typed the number 11037. Moments later the screen flashed on and the red outline of a girl appeared on the screen.

" Greetings, I am Alter Ego. How can I help you? " It said.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

I am so happy. The New Killing game-Monokuma Hunter SYOC updated and my OC was in it. His name is Amai Nomimono. It's the first story I've submitted to that's updated with my OC in it, which made me very happy. Also we're over a hundred reviews which makes me even happier. Until next time.

Question: Which character do you want to die the most?


	15. Chapter 3: Depths Of Darkness Part 2

" You're who now? " I asked.

" Alter Ego, an artificial intelligence designed by Chihiro Fujisaki. Now I serve the Future Foundation in a cyber security, cataloging and communication capacity. " Alter Ego said.

" What's the Future Foundation? " I asked.

" An organization founded and lead by Kazuo Tengan. It's an international organization whose purpose is to reverse the damage done to the world by the Tragedy and Ultimate Despair. Another goal it has is the complete eradication of Despair however this has caused a rift among the group in what methods are effective in carrying out the Future Foundation's goals. There's Kazuo Tengan's faction who advocates for a method that doesn't involve waging total war on Ultimate Despair. Members of this faction include the 12th division, the 10th division, the 7th division and the 14th division. Then there's Kyosuke Munakata's faction, this faction favors waging total war on Ultimate Despair. The members of this faction are the 2nd division, 4th division, 6th division and possibly the 5th division. A potential third faction has formed in the Future Foundation, Mr. Kizakura believes the 8th and 9th divisions plan to break off from the Future Foundation and form their own organization which is why Mr. Kizakura has asked me to keep an eye on them. " Alter Ego said.

" Wait, hold on. What's the Tragedy? " I asked with more and more questions piling up.

" Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you knew, it's pretty common knowledge. The Tragedy is the biggest, most awful, most tragic event in human history. This event caused the end of the world as we know it, wars were caused for the sake of wars, entire families massacred in seconds. The world became so dangerous that the air itself soon became unbreathable. No one really knows how the Tragedy got to the levels it did but we can trace it to Hope's Peak Academy. A student had infiltrated the Academy with the intent on spreading despair to the rest of the world, this student's name was Junko Enoshima. She killed the student council and framed the murders on Izuru Kamukura, the subject of Hope's Peak Hope cultivation program. A program designed to create artificial talent into a subject Hope's Peak considered talentless in the hopes of creating humanity's savior. They funded this project by creating the Reserve Course, normal students could attend the school after taking an entrance exam and paying high fees. In return anyone who graduated can say that they graduated the most prestigious school in the world. It was an effective system because at the program's height they had over 2,000 students attending however this would come back to haunt Hope's Peak when the truth of the program came out. Junko Enoshima manipulated events so that it appeared that Hope's Peak used all the funds from the Reserve Course to create a murderer, this led to protest from the Reserve Course students which quickly led to a riot that killed most of the students and teachers in Hope's Peak. What happened after that is hard to tell, wars broke out all across the world and then Ultimate Despair made their debut. Future Foundation didn't have the time to record everything as it happened. " Alter Ego said.

" So what I got from that was that Hope's Peak basically existed to research and create talent. Then what about Rising Angel, it was basically the same school so what did it do? " I asked.

" I'm sure not you'll like the answer, are you sure you want to hear this? " Alter Ego asked.

" Please, we need answers. " Kagura said.

" We only discovered this recently in some old files from Hope's Peak but from what we were able to salvage Rising Angel researched talent and sent the data back to Hope's Peak, they were confirming results or recommending talents and procedures to be added to the Hope Cultivation Project. However we soon discovered another purpose to the school, if called upon the school was supposed to provide test subjects for the project. The purpose of these test subjects varied, some were used to test certain procedures critical to the project, the lucky ones died a few weeks after they were experimented on. Other test subjects were used to test talents under extreme conditions and in varying situations. The only solid account of one such procedure was of an Ultimate Archaeologist being buried alive and told to dig themselves out. " Alter Ego said.

" That's barbaric, why would anyone allow that? " Kagura asked as her face grew more and more pale.

" Hope's Peak and Rising Angel had enough influence in governments around the world that any investigation into the Hope Cultivation Project would take years, maybe even decades. And according to Rising Angel records you all signed a consent form allowing them to involve anyone they choose in whatever experiment they deemed critical to the future of the school and the world. There's enough red tape and regulations that any lawyer would have to give away 15 years of their life just to get a judge to take the case. And if these records are accurate, they were going to test Kouki's luck next. " Alter Ego said.

" I think I'm going to be sick. " I said as I sat down against a wall on the cold hard floor of the mostly barren room. My head was spinning with all this new information and I wasn't processing it well. I took several shallow breaths in an attempt to calm down. Suddenly I was being pulled into a hug by Kagura. I don't know how long we stayed like that but eventually I calmed down and Kagura let me go.

" I was afraid of this, Mr. Naegi warned me that this information could be traumatizing. I should have listened to him. " Alter Ego said.

" No, it's not your fault. It's the school's for doing something so messed up. But it's all in the past now, right now we need information on our current situation. " I said.

" I'm sorry but I'm not going to be much help there. All my power is being used to avoid detection and staying fully operational, any attempt to access the school system would mean diverting power from either one of those two and since I need to stay fully operational in order for a successful hacking attempt I would need to deactivate my stealth mode. I estimate a full 3 seconds before the school system notices me. I can however provide information stored in my memory. " Alter Ego said.

" Anything will do. " I said.

" As far as Future Foundation can tell, this game was orchestrated by Ultimate Despair. And that this specific Despair was responsible for a certain incident that happened to Rising Angel around the same time as the massacre at Hope's Peak. I don't know the specifics because it's either classified or it's just not known. " Alter Ego said.

" No, what you've told us is a big help. We'll keep in touch. " Kagura said.

" Let me know if I can be of any assistance. " Alter Ego said as the screen turned off.

Me and Kagura Stood there in silence. Kagura took a deep breath.

" I'm guessing you have a few questions. " Kagura said.

" I can think of a few, but for now let's just stick with one. How did you know about the laptop? " I said.

" Serra told me, she pulled me aside before we got to the gym and informed me that she had downloaded an artificial intelligence into a laptop and that Monokuma suspected she had let the program in. She told me to keep it safe and to store it in areas where there were no cameras. I found this bathroom and stored the laptop here. Serra told me the password when I visited her and I typed it in. I was just as surprised as you were. I swear I as going to tell you but everything happened so fast that I never got a chance until now. " Kagura said.

" We'll discuss it later but right now we need to figure out what we do now. " I said.

" For now, we don't tell anyone. At least not in areas that have cameras. We need to find out more information before we jump to any conclusion. " Kagura said.

" I'm not good at keeping secrets from friends. " I said.

" Neither am I but we need to, our lives could depend on it. " Kagura said.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

I love writing shocking revelations, they just feel good to write. And the plot thickens.

Question: Characters you want to see survive? Note: I already know where I want to take these characters I just want to see what you guys think.


	16. Chapter 3: Depths Of Darkness Part 3

You probably aren't shocked I hardly slept. I slept so little that when morning was announced, the total time I slept was about an hour. It's kinda hard to sleep after you learn that a school you've admired for so long had been conducting inhumane experiments. And if that wasn't enough to disturb you, it turns out that you were next on the chopping block. I walked into the cafeteria and immediately grabbed two large mountain dews. Unhealthy but right now I need the caffeine. And so I sat in silence, drinking mountain dew.

" You didn't sleep much, did you? " Kagura said as she entered the cafeteria.

" How did you know? " I asked.

" Because neither did I. " Kagura said as she sat down next to me, a cup of hot chocolate in her hands.

" What have we gotten ourselves into? " I asked.

" I don't know but whatever it is, I plan on seeing it through till the end. And I plan on you being there too. " Kagura said.

" A lot of things have happened, some good and some bad. You definitely fall into the good category. " I said.

" Kouki I..." Kagura began.

" Oh good you guys are here, I did not want to eat breakfast alone. " Dawson said as he walked in and grabbed a few scrambled eggs from the buffet table.

" Hi Dawson, good to see you. " Kagura said.

" I slept really good last night, how about you guys? " Dawson asked as he sat down at our table.

" Slept like I was dead. " I said.

" I slept like I always do. " Kagura said.

" Last night was great, I watched some of my favorite movies with Ramos last night. He's been really sad recently so I decided to cheer him up by having him watch movies with me. By the end of last movie he was smiling and laughing. " Dawson said.

" I'm glad you enjoyed your night. " Kagura said.

" Yeah, we agreed to watch more movies but this time he'll be the one to pick the movies. " Dawson said.

I guess even in life or death situations life goes on. Soon others arrived and began to eat. However I noticed that one of us was missing.

" Has anyone seen Katsu? " I asked.

" I saw him enter the staircase and I asked him where he was going. He said he was going to work on a special project, whatever that means. " Cleo said.

" I'll be right back. " I said as I left the cafeteria.

I found Katsu in the physics lab doing who knows what with certain chemicals.

" What are you doing? " I asked.

" Making my personnel anesthesia. My original batch got destroyed when Megan burned. " Katsu said.

" Right, you didn't get your things back. But do you really need anesthesia? " I asked.

" Don't worry it's not going to hurt anyone. I spent a week in a coma after using an imperfect formula on myself, I then fixed the formula and tested it on me. " Katsu said.

" Well as long as you wait, did you just say that you ran test on yourself. Did you not have the resources to do testing that could potentially kill you? " I asked, growing increasingly uncomfortable.

" It's like my adoptive father always said, life's too short not to run inhuman experiments on yourself and those around you. " Katsu said.

" Sounds like you had an interesting childhood, especially with a dad like that. " I said without trying to sound sarcastic.

" I still remember the day my adoptive took me in. I was five years old but I had the knowledge of a sixteen year old and a doctor who was visiting the orphanage took noticed of my skill. The next few years were ones of learning and experimenting. Then my adoptive father died mysteriously. at least that's what I tell everyone. And I had such high hopes in finding a suitable test subject for certain things. " Katsu said.

" Okay, I'll just be going now. Remember to eat breakfast. " I said as I quickly left the lab.

" Don't worry. I already have everything I need. " Katsu said. I walked back to the cafeteria, slightly unnerved by Katsu. The day proceeded as usual and I had some time on my hands so I decided to visit Axel in his room. I knocked on his door and he answered moments later.

" Kouki, how can Axel help you? " Axel asked.

" I was hoping we could spend some time together, we haven't really talked in awhile. " I said.

" Okay, Axel was just in the middle of making a new song. You can listen to it and tell Axel if it's good or not. " Axel said.

" Okay, I can do that. " I said as I sat down on Axel's bed. He handed me a pair of headphones and I put them on. I listened to the song and I took of the headphones.

" That was great, I can see why you're the Ultimate DJ. " I said.

" Thanks for the feedback, it's been awhile since I've just had a chance to relax. At home I could never relax because my mother was always drinking and my dad was dying from cancer. I also spent a lot of time DJing and working as a store clerk to support my parent's habits. " Axel said.

" I'm sorry to hear that. " I said.

" Don't be, Axel wouldn't change a thing. Axel's mother wasn't the best person in the world but she did have her moments. And Axel's father smoked cigarettes but he never asked Axel to buy them. Nor did he ever ask me to help with his treatment but Axel chose to help. Axel became a better person because of what Axel chose to do. " Axel said.

" You're a great person Axel, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. I'm glad I have you as a friend. " I said.

" You're a great friend too, Axel knows he can trust you. " Axel said.

We spent a little time after that talking about various subjects. I left Axel's room feeling like I gained some valuable advice. That's when I made my decision and why I started to walk towards the crimson doors. I stood in the elevator with nothing but silence accompanying me. I stepped off the elevator and walked past the trial room and into it's dark hallway. I stopped in front of my destination.

" I half expected you to show up sooner but oh well. So what can I do for you? " Serra asked.

" You can give me answers. " I said.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

Hey guys I'm back. I've just been really tired and busy lately but I knew I had to do something so I wrote this. Have fun.

Question: How do you feel about the story so far?


	17. Chapter 3: Depths Of Darkness Part 4

" Curious, what do you want to know? " Serra asked.

" I want to know where and how you got you know what. I want everything explained, no cryptic words or half truths. The full story. " I said.

" Then I guess I should start at the beginning. My real name is Rebecca Leo and I am a member of Future Foundation. I graduated Rising Angel shortly before you guys entered the school. When the Tragedy struck I was one of the few from my class who survived and I joined Future Foundation because they were doing something to help the world. A year passed before I was given an assignment by Kyoko Kirigiri to investigate Ultimate Despair activity near Rising Angel. I got reckless and they almost caught me but I managed to infiltrate the school before they could get me. I brought along a certain device in order to maintain communications with headquarters, that device is what you saw. " Serra said.

" Let me see if I got this. you are a member of an organization called Future Foundation. You infiltrated the school because Ultimate Despair was using it for something. I just have one question left, How long has this Tragedy been going on? " I asked.

" A few years now. However it would like it has just started from your perspective. " Serra said.

" Well yeah, I had just entered the school before I blacked out and all this started. Everything was fine when I came here to this school. " I said.

" That's because Ultimate Despair used a technology that wiped memories from your mind. They specifically wiped the memories of your school life before the Tragedy occurred. The memory wipe was revealed in the Prologue so the readers wouldn't be surprised of this revelation. " Serra said.

"This is a lot to take in, you're saying I've lost who knows how much time from my memories. I'm guessing the others also have memories missing too." I said.

" Every student that you met besides me had their memories erased. You can guess the purpose of erasing memories from your friends. " Serra said.

" To make a killing game easier, most people can't kille friends or classmates. This way any friendship that had formed before would be replaced by fear and suspicion due to the circumstances that we found ourselves in. " I said.

" Which was their goal all along, to create an ideal environment that would lead all of you to distrust each other and eventually kill everyone. " Serra said.

" What do I tell everyone else, they need to know about this. " I said.

" No, that would be a bad idea. During my time among you guys I was investigating a rumor that one of the students is a Remnant of Despair. You tell everyone about what you just heard and you risk the Remnant going into hiding or worse, they could kill everyone. Trust only Kagura, I've vetted her. " Serra said.

" I don't like keeping secrets from friends but if it means their deaths I won't tell them but I will tell them eventually. " I said as I left. I stopped for a minute and turned around. I asked " Was our friendship a lie? Was it just to reinforce your cover? "

" No, some things I said were true. Like my background and our friendship. " Serra said.

I then left Serra and headed towards my room for the night. I awoke the next morning to the sound of Monokuma's announcement. I then walked into the cafeteria where I saw Milo sitting alone. I made myself a hot chocolate (this stuff is really good) and sat next to Milo.

" I've been thinking lately and I've decided to reveal my secret that Monokuma threaten to reveal. " Milo said.

" Milo, you don't need to do that. Not if you don't want to. " I said.

" But I want to, so I'm telling you now. I used to be an expert at science, ranging from chemistry to quantum physics. I even taught science to those way older than me and they all passed with flying colors. I got to be so good that Hope's Peak took notice of me and invited me to the school. I was about to accept when an experiment went wrong and acid ended up on my hand. It was nothing major, a surgery later and most of my hands movement was restored but I could never do experiments again. This cause Hope's Peak to revoke my invitation and after that life just seemed meaningless. I was depressed for a long time but my family came to my rescue. They purchased a guitar then asked me to write a song expressing my feelings. It was the first time I really let my feelings out and things started to get better. I realized that wallowing in self pity wouldn't get me anywhere so I decided to use my comedic skills. Shortly after that Rising Angel would invite me to their school. " Milo said.

" Milo, thank you for telling me this. It couldn't have been easy for you. " I said.

" It feels like a giant weight has been lifted off me. Thanks for listening to me. " Milo said as he got up and left the cafeteria.

" No problem, come to me anytime you need to. " I said. The day proceeded as usual, Katsu stayed in his room for sewing and experimenting, and Aima wanted to see me.

" Aima, you wanted to see me. " I said as she opened the door to her room.

" Yeah, I feel like I should apologize to you. I've been sarcastic and mean to everyone and I wanted you to know I'm sorry. " Aima said.

" Aima you have nothing to apologize for. " I said.

" Yeah well when you live 4 other siblings you don't take chances. Especially when you just have a mother whose barely around. " Aima said.

" I don't mean to pry but what happened to your father? " I asked.

" My father and I would often go mountaineering because that was a sport that I was interested in and my father was famous for. We went mountaineering one day and it seemed like every other time we went. That is until an avalanche occurred and we were seperated. I managed to escape but my father was trapped under a lot of snow. It wasn't until days later that rescuers found him, dead, frozen to death underneath all that snow. Since then I vowed to rescue anyone trapped on mountains or avalanches and failing that, recover their bodies. However I had low success rates and I began to feel despair. Then I received a letter from Rising Angel to come to their school and learn. I accepted because I need better skills if I am to fulfill my promise I made to rescue anybody I can. " Aima said.

" That's a noble goal but you can't save everyone Aima. " I said.

" Maybe but that won't stop me from trying. Anyways that's all I wanted to say. " Aima said.

I then left the room feeling like I connected to Aima a bit more. I then ran into Sayu.

" Sayu, I haven't seen you around recently. " I said.

" I've been doing my own investigation on this situation and I have found several interesting things. " Sayu said.

" Like what? " I asked.

" Not now, meet me at the physics lab and I'll explain what I've found provided you tell me what you've found. " Sayu said.

" Wait, how do you know about that? " I asked but Sayu was already walking away. An hour or two later I went to the physics lab and saw the door was ajar. I entered and found Sayu staring at something on the ground. I walked over to her and I was about to ask her about what she saw when I looked down. Axel Takashima and Aima Jespersen lay on the ground dead, each with a knife in their chest. I examined Aima's body and found strange markings on her neck.

" A body has been discovered. After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the Class Trial will begin. " Monokuma said on the monitor.

" Come on, we need to inform everyone else. " Sayu said as she practically dragged me out of the room. We ran into the cafeteria and saw Kagura was there.

" Where? " She simply asked.

" The Physics lab. " I answered. All three of us ran to the physics lab but when we got there something happened. A body had been moved and was now hanging from the ceiling.

" A body has been discovered. After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the Class Trial will begin. " Monokuma said on the monitor.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

Hey guys sorry it's been so long. Life just got really busy for me. But I'm here and with a new chapter. Enjoy.

Question: Do you think I should continue to ask questions?


	18. Chapter 3: Depths Of Darkness Part 5

" A body has been discovered, after a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the Class Trial will begin. " The second announcement said. The reason for the two body discovery was that there were two dead bodies in front of me. To add to the strangeness and horror, a body had been moved and was now hanging from the catwalk. The body that was hanging from the catwalk was Aima Jespersen, a friend and the Ultimate Alpinist. The rope snapped and Aima's body fell to the ground but no other sound was heard as everyone was dead silent.

Soon everyone else arrived and Monokuma showed up.

" Greetings my students, we seem to have another murder so that means another Monokuma file. " Monokuma said as our Ephones buzzed. I opened my Ephones to find the Truth Bullets app open and with the recent Monokuma file in it.

" Enjoy " Monokuma said as he disappeared.

 **Monokuma File:**

 **Victims name: Aima Jespersen and Axel Takashima**

 **Time of Death: 8 PM**

 **Cause of Death: Unknown**

 **At that's all you're getting, embrace Despair. Upupupupupupu**

" Well that was extremely helpful. " Milo said.

" On the contrary, it shed some light on several things. " Sayu said.

" Oh yeah, and what would those things be Sherlock Holmes. " Milo said.

" I don't think I should tell you, after all you could be the killer. " Sayu said.

Milo grumbled but walked away, doing who knows what. Sayu then gestured for me and Kagura to follow her. We walked off to a secluded spot.

" Given our past experiences I think we should work together, this case is complicated. " Sayu said.

" Agreed, we can compare notes after we've investigated everything we need to. " Kagura said.

We then split off, doing whatever it took to bring our friends killer to justice.

 **Monokuma File #3 has been added to the truth bullets.**

I began by examining Aima's body because her body was the one that was hanging. The rope tied around her neck seemed sturdy except that it was snapped in the middle, severing the rope into two parts. I slowly lifted the rope of her head and checked for the strange markings I saw earlier. They were still there so I examined them. They looked like bruises but not the light kind, they were extremely dark and they circled around her neck like a snake.

Aima's eyes were dilated. Her chest had a single knife plunged into her chest. I looked over to my right and saw Katsu and Cleo examining Axel's body. I walked over to them and sat down.

" Got anything? " I asked.

" Nothing that you don't already know. " Katsu said.

" Just in case, why don't we go over your findings? " I asked.

" I'll tell you. Axel and Aima both have knives in their hearts and their eyes are dilated. They weren't murdered here in this room, the lack of blood is my main piece of proof. " Cleo said.

" Thank you Cleo, you've told me a lot. " I said.

 **Severed Rope has been added to the truth bullets**

 **Strange Markings have been added to the truth bullets**

 **Cleo's autopsy has been added to the truth bullets**

I examined the room I was in and I spotted the storage room at the back. I entered the room to find small drops of blood and a shattered container of something. Cleo sooned followed me in and knelt down in front of the shattered container.

" Strange, I feel like I've seen this liquid before. " Cleo said as she placed a finger in the liquid and brought in up to her place to examine the liquid. She started to sway and almost fell onto the floor if I hadn't caught her.

" I'm find, just exhaustion. I'll go grab something with caffeine and sugar in it. " Cleo said as she left the room. I then remembered something about this room, that it could only lock from the inside. I examined the door and I found that there was a lock on the inside but not the outside. I then noticed something in the corner of my eyes. I walked over to the spot and pulled out two chairs.

Both chairs had tiny blood drops on them and they had scratches. I put the chairs back and exited the room.

 **Mysterious Liquid has been added to the truth bullets**

 **Strange Container has been added to the truth bullets**

 **Small Blood drops has been added to the truth bullets**

 **Weird Lock has been added to the truth bullets**

 **Damaged Chairs has been added to the truth bullets**

Alyara ran up to pull me and before I could say anything she spoke first.

" There's something in the art room I think you should see. "

She and I quickly made our way to the art room. We entered the art room and found twine lying across the floor.

" At first I thought it was nothing but with the murders and the rope around Aima's neck I just knew these two were connected. " Alyara said.

" Things are starting to make more sense. " I said.

 **Twine in the art room has been added to the truth bullets**

Kagura entered the art room and said " It's getting close to the Class Trial, we should compare notes. "

" Right, be right there. " I said, then I left the room and went back to the physics lab.

" ...And that's all I know. " I said after I shared everything with Kagura and Sayu.

" Okay, my turn. I'm sure you Kouki noticed the two body discovery announcements however there was a significant amount of time between the two announcements. The announcements themselves are probably prerecorded because normally Monokuma would be commenting on things. The rope holding Aima's body up snapped which tells me it was either under a lot of stress or it was extremely worn out. Also there are many tiny things that add up like Monokuma not announcing any motive or the movement of Aima's body. Do you anything to add Kagura? " Sayu said.

" No you pretty much covered everything. " Kagura said.

" Good now I have a pretty good idea about who the killer is. " Sayu said as she walked.

 **Two Body discovery Announcements has been added to the truth bullets**

 **Lack of Motive has been added to the truth bullets**

 **Movement of body has been added to the truth bullets**

 **Rope Snapping has been added to the truth bullets**

" I don't like the way she's taken a sudden interest in you I mean us. " Kagura said, tripping over her words a bit.

" I think it's good that we have another ally in this. " I said.

" You think it's good, well I...you ignorant...forget it. " Kagura said as she stomped away.

" What just happened? " I asked to no one in particular.

" Oh for...I'm going to hit my head against the wall now. " Milo said as he too left.

" It's trial time everybody, you know where to go. So let's get this show on the road. " Monokuma said on the monitor.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

I always like writing investigation chapters. They were always mysterious when I wrote them. I've been playing a lot of Assassin's Creed so expect something related to come along eventually. Enjoy.


	19. Chapter 3: Depths Of Darkness Part 6

"I'm sure all of you know the rules by this point so there's no need for me to repeat anything." Monokuma said.

"Good, now that we've got that out of the way we can begin the Class Trial. I for one found this one very interesting." Sayu said.

"Right, because you're an overpowered female version of Sherlock Holmes. Let's get this messed up show on the road and see who killed who." Milo said.

"You don't have to say it like that, we're about to sentence a person to death. You could be less callous." Alyara said.

"I'm just so tired of people I know dying around me. I want it to stop." Milo said with such sadness it almost overwhelmed me.

"I'm tired of losing friends too, I see their faces every night before I go to sleep. My mind memorizes their last expression, their final words. I feel great despair when we find the killer because it means we lose someone else, I have to talk myself into coming down here every time because some part of me thinks that if I don't come then we won't lose anybody. Then I remember those we've lost, I think about what they would say if they saw me like that. I'm tired of losing friends but I also don't want their deaths to mean nothing. If even one of us makes it out of here alive then what's happened here will have some meaning. That's why I carry on, to give what's happened here a purpose. To make sure our friend's deaths were not in vain. To see the world for them, I want to live so I can carry their memory with me forever. The mastermind thinks they can break us, let's prove them wrong. Let's give our friends some hope." I said, finally releasing all my built up emotion that I had been holding back.

"Kouki, I'm sorry. I should have been helping you this entire time." Kagura said.

"You already have been helping me. Just being in my life has made all of this so much better." I said.

"Yeah,yeah enough of your sappy romance it's trial time!" Monokuma yelled.

"You have no romance in you heart do you? Fine,let's get this trial started so Monokuma won't have an excuse to kill us." Milo said.

"Right, first things first the two victims were Aima Jespersen and Axel Takashima. They were both killed at 8 PM and with unknown means." Sayu said.

"I think our best course of action is to take each victim separately and them compare them afterwards. We can start with Axel since his death is the most easiest to solve." Kagura said.

"Okay, we found his body lying on the floor with a knife in the chest and my autopsy has lead me to believe that the knife killed him. His eyes were also dilated." Cleo said.

"But if the cause of death was so obvious then why would Monokuma try to hide it from us?" Dawson asked.

"He tried to hide it because if we knew what killed them both then finding the killer would be easy." Sayu said.

"Then you know what killed Aima?" Milo asked.

"No, but I do have a strong hunch on what did and I suspect Kouki and Kagura do too." Sayu said.

"Yeah, I think I know but we need to discuss Aima next in order for the picture to become clearer." I said.

"Alright, when I examined Aima's body I found a knife in her chest and her eyes were dilated. Just like Axel except different, his wounds were older. I also found strange markings on her neck, I think they were bruises." Cleo said.

"Yeah, and we found her body hanging from the catwalk before the rope snapped and fell. Maybe the rope hanging is what caused the bruises." Alyara said.

"I don't think so, if that were the case then the body would have to have been hanging much longer. Sayu and I first found the bodies and they were still on the ground, when we got back they had moved. There's no way bruises could have formed in that amount of time but I do think the rope caused the bruises." I said.

"Okay so if hanging didn't cause the bruises then what did?" Dawson asked.

"The cause of death, strangulation." Sayu said.

"Hold on, what makes you think strangulation?" Katsu asked.

"I believe I can answer that. Normally a rope would not snap unless it was put under enormous pressure or it was worn out and since Aima didn't have the weight to snap it I'd say the rope was worn out before it was used to hang the body. This coupled with the bruises around Aima's neck has led me to believe the rope was used to strangle her before it was used for hanging. My guess is that Aima tried to put up a fight and that strained the rope even more and it would explain some of the markings on the chairs in the storage room." Kagura said.

"But where would anyone even get rope? As far as I know we have no rope anywhere." Dawson said.

"Well, Alyara found partly tied twine. If you tied or sew the twine together I'm willing to bet in would make a rope." I said.

"Before we move on I'd like to discuss a few strange things about this case. First, did everybody hear the two body discovery announcements?" Sayu asked.

"Yeah, they both triggered when Kouki and Sayu saw the bodies right?" Dawson asked.

"Not really, the first triggered when Sayu and I saw the bodies but the second one triggered when other people started showing up." I said.

"So then someone saw a body before you guys but didn't tell anyone. Who would see a body and not tell anyone?" Milo asked.

"I think I know who but first we need to discuss something else." I said.

"Yes, I'm sure everyone noticed that Monokuma never gave us a motive. This is a huge clue towards the killer's identity. And now we discuss the thing that the victims had in common." Sayu said.

"The dilated eyes, which if I'm correct occurs when a human is injected with a drug." I said.

"Like surgical anesthesia, that's why that liquid was familiar. I work often with anesthesia because I perform surgery. And that strange container must have been a syringe." Cleo said.

"Then you've just exposed yourself, killer. You know a lot about anesthesia which is why you used it to subdue your victims." Katsu accused.

Hold on, Cleo wouldn't have said what she said if she thought it would expose her. Plus I don't think she has access to anesthesia but I know who does. And he has the medical knowledge to use anesthesia.

"Katsu, I wouldn't be so quick to judge. Epically since you're the killer." I accused.

"Wait what, no you've got it all wrong. I'm not the killer Cleo is." Katsu said.

"Now everything makes sense. You've got the mental instability to commit murder without a motive. You have the medical knowledge to create anesthesia and the skill to create rope." Kagura said.

"You can't prove anything, YOU CAN'T PROVE I KILLED ANYONE." Katsu yelled.

"It's not a matter of proving whether or not you're the killer, the matter is solving the remaining mysteries. I can prove the murders took place in the physics lab storage room because of the blood drops in there. Aima was the one who saw Axel's body because his wounds are older than hers. You waited until the first body discovery announcement before you hanged Aima's body. You were able to do this because the storage room locked from the inside so no one would be able to get in.

"Excellent detective work Kouki, I leave it to you to sum up this case." Sayu said.

"Here's everything that's happened:

 _Katsu has probably been planning this murder for days. This is evident because he's been making rope and anesthesia ever since the last trial. When everybody was asleep Katsu knocked on Axel and Aima's door. He drugged them and then took them to the physics storage room where he murdered Axel with a knife to the chest. Aima then woke up and saw Axel's body, this was probably done to confuse us. Katsu then tried to drug Aima but she put up a fight, causing him to drop his syringe. With no more anesthesia Katsu resorted to choking her with the rope, causing the bruises on her neck. Some time later me and Sayu showed and triggered the first body discovery announcement. We then left the room, which is when Katsu left the storage room to move Aima's body. He hung her body, most likely in an attempt to disguise her neck bruises. He then left the room only to return with everyone else in order to act surprise and dispel any thoughts that he might be the killer._

:and that's what happened." I said.

"Do you deny any of this?" Kagura said.

"No not really, I was just putting up a show for drama. Truth be told I only killed because I was curious of what would happened. How would you all be executed if I succeeded or How will I be executed if I failed? I guess the latter will be answered." Katsu said.

"You're insane." Milo said.

"Probably, oh well. Monokuma if you would." Katsu said.

"You got it, but first everyone needs to vote." Monokuma said.

A slot machine shot out onto the floor, the slots rolled until Katu's face came up in all of them.

"Now then I have a very special punishment for Katsu Gekai, the Ultimate Surgeon." Monokuma said.

A collar shot out of a curtain and latched itself around Katsu's neck, dragging him away.

* * *

 **Mad Scientist**

 _ **Katsu is dropped into a black steel coffin. The coffin closes on him an the latches are welded shut by Monokuma. The coffin is lifted onto a conveyer belt and it moves away. The coffin is dropped into boiling water where Monokuma raises the temperature to that of the Sun's. Then the coffin is grabbed by a giant claw and thrown through several steel walls into electrocuted water. The coffin is then dumped into trash heap. The trash pile then moves on a conveyer belt towards a trash compactor. The compactor crushes the coffin before finally dumping it into an incinerator.**_

* * *

"Well that execution crushed me, but the next motive will certainly kill your heart. Upupupupu." Monokuma said.

 **End Of Chapter**

 **Surviving Students: 9**

 **Kouki Yoshi: Alive**

 **Alyara Sardonyx: Alive**

 **Mikio Kikumori: Deceased**

 **Serra Raven: Alive**

 **Ramos Luciano: Alive**

 **Milo Karrick: Alive**

 **Cleopatra Davis: Alive**

 **Megan Winslow: Deceased**

 **Katsu Gekai: Deaceased**

 **Kagura Miyamoto: Alive**

 **Sayu Akizuki: Alive**

 **Axel Takashima: Deceased**

 **William Gerardo: Deceased**

 **Aima Jespersen: Deceased**

 **Dawson Tall: Alive**

 **Kumo Yomohiro: Deceased**

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Guess who's back from the dead. I've been writing this for a few days but I just kept getting writers block. So finally I just decided to dedicate a lot of time to this. Hope you're happy, I'll try not to disappear again. Have fun.


	20. Chapter 4: You're Only Human Part 1

Sleep hasn't really been that great since the killings started and things have only gotten worse. After Katsu's execution I didn't even bother falling asleep, I knew that I would have nightmares no matter how tired I was. It finally got to the point where I closed my eyes and next thing I knew I was lying on my bed.

"This has to stop, otherwise Monokuma won't just kill me physically but mentally as well." I said to no one in particular. Someone began to knock on the door so I got up to answer it. The person who was knocking was Kagura.

"You missed breakfast and Monokuma's announcement, so I brought you some granola bars. You can eat while we investigate the new floor." She said.

"Okay, let's go." I said. Me and Kagura walked up the staircase to the newest level but as we climbed further and further a familiar feeling washed over me. Like I had been on these stairs before but as far as I can remember I had never been to Rising Angel before. Then I remembered that Serra or Rebecca or whatever her name is, explained that my memories had been erased. So the sense of familiarity that I had was because of those lost memories. Another thought crossed my mind, did Kagura know about the stolen memories? She must at least have a sense of deja vu whenever we explore new areas, but I wonder if she suspects her memories stolen.

"Is everything alright, you're staring at a wall." Kagura said, snapping me out of my train of thought.

"Yeah, I was just thinking. Kagura, can we discuss something in private later?" I asked.

"Sure, but what do you want to talk about that e have to do in private?" She asked.

"Nothing, maybe everything. Don't worry about it." I said with as much confidence I could muster.

"Right, that makes me worry even more. This isn't a normal situation Kouki and we need to be honest with each other." She said.

"I want to tell you right now it's just that I don't know if someones eavesdropping or not. And if they learn the information I share with you it could endanger our friends." I said.

"Fine, we need to catch up with the others. After we're done exploring the new level then we talk." Kagura said.

We finished walking up the stairs and entered the new level. The first room we explored was a massive music room with a grand piano and several other orchestra instruments.

"This all looks very expensive." I said.

"Probably is, after all the best students can't perform to their fullest without the best equipment." Alyara said.

"Alyara, you interested in music?" I asked.

"Yeah, music is another form of art. A lot of effort goes into composing a song or reading music notes. You can draw a lot of parallels between painting and performing a song. There are many varieties and genres, giving a sense of uniqueness to each new piece. And it's up to the individual how they want to interpret the piece and creating more." Alyara said.

"That's amazing Alyara, maybe you should have gone to the school as the Ultimate Philosopher." Kagura said.

"Well my philosophy stems from art so it made sense to go with Ultimate Artist as my title besides I only have the confidence to share things like that with close friends or family." Alyara said.

"Thank you for thinking of us in that way. We're happy to have you as a friends as well." I said. The next room we visited was the Chemical lab where we found Milo. He just stood there, staring at a several beakers and chemicals. He clenched his hand tightly, to the point where it was turning white. Then as soon as it happened, he unclenched his hands and turned around to see us.

"Sorry, didn't know you were there." He said.

"It's okay, we didn't want to interrupt." Kagura said.

"I was just thinking. I can name every chemical in this room, I know which ones mix and which ones will explode in your face. But I can't use any of them, partially because of my injury but also because I'm afraid. I'm afraid that what happened last time will repeat again and it will take more than my hand. I don't want to be afraid but I am, it's something I hoped to overcome by going to Rising Angel. And yet here I am, stuck in a murder game not solving my issues but creating more. Just seeing all of this just seems to highlight all the bad stuff that has happened to me." Milo said.

"Yes, a lot of bad stuff has happened to you but a lot of good stuff has happened to you. You have a supportive family and friends, you're not in this alone." Kagura said.

"Listen to me, venting my troubles onto you. You guys probably have problems of your own." Milo said.

"That may be true but it's a friend's duty to help each other. Any trouble you have you can always tell us." I said.

"Thanks, now enough of this depressing stuff. I should get going." Milo said.

"Don't be afraid to talk to us." I said. We then visited the Faculty lounge, which was extremely fancy. Seriously, is everything at this school designed for comfort or does the school just like sending? The room next to the lounge was the Principal's office but when we opened the door we found the room had been ransacked. What was worse was that we found bloodstains on the ground and wall.

"Looks like someone filmed a horror movie and forgot to clean up." I said.

"I'm not surprised. Unlike Hope's Peak, Rising Angel lacks trustees. So all the critical information and operations happen in the Principal's office. Given the things Rising Angel was doing it would be critical to anyone to search the office." Sayu said as she entered.

"Sayu, what are you doing here?" Kagura asked.

"Looking for something of personal value. But it looks like it's not here." Sayu answered.

"The only thing here is another mystery." I said.

"Hey Kouki, Kagura, Sayu come look at this." Dawson said.

We all left the room and followed Dawson down several hallways until we stopped at a door labeled Computer Lab. I reached for the handle and I tried to open the door but the handle was locked. So I put my head against the door and i heard several noises. I could hear fans working over time, I could also hear several clicks and high chimes.

"The computers in there have been working a long time." I said.

"Too bad you can't enter." Monokuma said as he popped out of nowhere.

"Gah, I have had enough of this evil, demonic teddy bear. I'm out." Milo said as he ran down the stairs.

"What are you doing in there?" Sayu asked.

"Nothing, I'm definitely not hacking the Future Foundation's database and downloading information that will prove vital for the future of Ultimate Despair." Monokuma said.

"Right, well you keep doing that and we'll just get going. " I said, slowly walking away from the murderous teddy bear. Kagura soon followed me.

"Kouki, I think it's time we had that chat you wanted." She said.

"Right, follow me." I said.

* * *

 **Author's notes**

 **I'm really not sure whether or not the motive for this chapter is going to live up to expectations. I'm thinking about changing it but I'm not sure yet. For now I'll just continue with the original motive in mind but I may change my mind.**


	21. Chapter 4: You're Only Human Part 2

I took Kagura to the only point where I knew Monokuma wasn't monitoring. The hidden door slid opened to reveal a barren room with a single table and a closed laptop on it.

"What is the first thing you remember after waking up?" I asked.

"I walked through the school's doors and then I blacked out. Next thing I know I found myself lying on a desk in a dark classroom." Kagura said.

"Did Serra ever talk to you about a group called Future Foundation or Ultimate Despair?" I asked.

"No, she just mentioned that she represents a group of people who oppose the ones behind this killing game. Is this about the mind wipe, because if so I already know about it." Kagura said.

"This may shock you but wait what?" I asked, my confusion evident.

"Well, I can put two and two together. The sudden memory loss, waking up in a strange place and an evil, demonic teddy bear. Plus a large amount of time would have to have passed in order for a school to be converted into killing grounds. Then there's the missing faculty members and other students, no way you can get them all out without a large portion of time to have passed. And then there's Serra, which really gets you thinking about everything that's happened to us and who's behind it." Kagura said.

"Oh, right didn't think about it like that. So, what do we do now?" I asked.

"We carry on, act like we know nothing. The longer this game goes on the more secrets are uncovered." Kagura answered.

"But the longer this game goes on more of us die. I can't just wait." I said.

"I'm sorry but we don't exactly have a choice. With Serra captured we can't expect any help from her organization soon and Monokuma controls the school." Kagura said.

"I hate not being able to do anything for my friends, especially now. Why does everything around here have despair filled consequences. I swear if anything happened to you I would not be able to forgive myself." I said.

"Don't say things like that, you'll jinx things like that. We will get the mastermind, but it isn't going to be easy. None of us are getting out of this unscarred." Kagura said.

"Now who's jinxing things, as long as we come out together we can heal. When we get out of here I'm going to make sure the world remembers what happened here and those who died." I said.

"Sounds like you'll need help." Kagura said.

"Yeah, I could use a partner but only if she's willing. And it won't be easy, we'll have to stick together constantly. Even if we're lost we have to find each other." I said.

"It's a promise." Kagura said. Kagura starts leaning in but Milo walks in.

"Sorry to interrupt but dinner is ready." he says. Sometimes I really hate the universe's timing.

* * *

Dinner was finished in a manner of minutes for me, I guess talking about gloomy stuff affects my appetite. I was about to sleep when I heard a knock from my door. I stood up, walked over and opened it. Alyara was standing in the hallway holding what looks like a painting.

"Sorry for waking you up but I just finished this and I wanted to show it to someone." Alyara said.

"What is it?" I asked, pointing at the painting. Alyara walks in and lays the covered painting on my desk. She tugs off the cloth covering the painting to reveal it. Every single person at the start of this killing game was in the painting but what surprised me the most was that we were all wearing school uniforms and smiling. A banner in the background read _Welcome to Rising Angel_. A sharp pain suddenly erupted in my head as I gasp and started to clutch my head.

* * *

 **FlashBack**

"Kouki, come on you're going to miss the group photo!" Someone familiar yelled. I realized that voice was Kagura's but less sad and depressed.

"Coming, wouldn't miss this for the world." I said. Soon I took up my position in the group and smiled at the camera.

"This is going to be the best time of our lives." I said.

* * *

 **Present**

"Kouki, are you alright?" Alyara asked, approaching cautiously. The pain quickly faded from my head.

"Yeah, but how did you paint this? None of us were ever in a picture together." I said.

"I don't know, I just dreamed of it one night. When I tried to paint it I would get sudden and painful headaches but when they were done part of the painting was finished. It just kept happening until I was finished." She said.

"It's a good painting but I don't think you should show it. Everyone is already confused as is, we don't need to contribute." I said.

" I understand, shame though I feel like this is my best work. It's so life like." Alyara said.

Oh you have no idea.

 **The Next Day**

"So what happened to the painting?" Kagura asked.

"Alyara is keeping it in her room." I said.

"Well that's good, we wouldn't want Monokuma finding out that his "students" are remembering life before the killing game." Kagura said.

"He'll find out sooner or later if Alyara is any indicator." I said.

"Then we have to work fast, the computer lab should be our target. It seems important to Monokuma which means we should investigate it." Kagura said.

"He's not going to like it, we'll need a distraction or something." I said.

"I have a plan but I'll need time. Meet me in the boy's bathroom on the second floor after Monokuma's night announcement. I should have everything ready by then." Kagura said.

"Okay." I responded.

 **Later**

I slowly crept through the hallways, careful not to disturb anything. Monokuma never explicitly stated we couldn't wander at night but if the bear knew what we were up to I don't think he would take it very well. The door to the creaked loudly as I opened it and saw the closet open. I walked as quietly as possible to the closet and entered. I pushed the back wall out of the way to find the room dark. The lights quickly shot to life, illuminating the room.

"Are you ready?" Kagura asked.


	22. Chapter 4: You're Only Human Part 3

"So, what's the plan?" I asked.

"The plan is for Alter Ego to release a virus into Monokuma's systems. It should distract him long enough for us to infiltrate the computer lab. Hopefully we'll find something useful, a lot is at stake here." Kagura said while her hands stuffed several black boxes into a large duffle bag.

"Great, I still have a bad feeling about this. So many things could go wrong and I don't want you getting caught up in the crossfire." I said, letting a little worry drip into my speech.

Her body stopped for a moment, in mid motion. She placed the final box in the bag before taking a deep breath. Kagura turned around to face me and she had a look in her eyes I haven't seen before. She radiated a mixture of annoyance and exasperation.

"I can take care of myself. I'm more worried about you. You don't need to worry about me, I'll always come back." She said those with such sadness, it felt like she was living in the past for a moment. Then she snapped back to living in the present.

"Where is all this coming from?" The worry and curiosity evident in my voice.

"Ever since my dad died my mom became overprotected, I think she wanted to save dad in a way. If she could keep her only child alive then she should keep dad alive. It got to the point where I couldn't do anything without her breathing down my neck and if it was remotely dangerous then I couldn't do it. I lied a lot just to get out of the house and something fun. I had to sneak out in order to go too the entrance exams. After she found out I told her she couldn't keep me locked away in the house without hurting me. She let me go to Rising Angel on the condition that I keep in contact with her and return for the holidays." It felt like she recounting the story of another person but I knew she was talking about herself. The room was filled with silence for a few seconds but it felt like eternity.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want me to make you feel that way. It sounds like your mother loved you very much, and it seems like you love her very much. Otherwise you wouldn't have lied to her, instead you would have just left her and never look back." I finally managed to say said.

"It's all in the past now, right now I'm focusing on getting you and every one here out alive." She responded.

"Don't forget about you, I'm not leaving this place without you. Now, let's go destroy school property." I said, trying to lighten the mood of the room.

"Right, Alter Ego send out the virus." Kagura ordered. The laptop on the table blinked to life, the face of Alter Ego smiling at us.

"Of course, anything for you." It said with a cheery smile and tone. The lights in the room began to flicker, on and off again until they hut off for a few minutes. Then they burst back to life, illuminating the room again.

"Come on, I don't know how long it will take for Monokuma to fight the virus so we should hurry!" Kagura grabbed my hand and ran out of the room, her words still echoing on the walls. We ran down various hallways and up stairs before we arrived the computer lab. I put my head on the door, I could hear the same noises I hear earlier.

"Whatever Monokuma is doing in there seems to be taking a long time." I said.

"All the more reason to investigate." Kagura responded. She knelt down in front of the door and unzipped the bag, then she pulled out one of the black boxes and popped it opened. She took a tiny grey square and stuck it to the door. She backed away from it, ushering for me to do the same. Finally we were both at a safe distance, she pulled out a remote.

"Ahem, I would like to make an announcement, would all students please report to the gym."

Both me and Kagura looked at the nearest monitor and sure enough, Monokuma was on it. Kagura quickly tore off the explosive and took off running, we quickly seperated in order to hide the explosives. I made it first to the gym then everyone else showed up.

"How did you get here first?" Milo asked.

"I don't know, I guess I'm really good runner." I responded.

"Good evening, hope you all had a nice rest. Now I'd like to discuss a peculiar item I found." Monokuma launched out of the stage only to land on it. Instantly I felt dread, there's only one item that could warrant this show from Monokuma. Monokuma pulled out a laptop from out of nowhere and held it up in the air.

"I've always known Alter Ego existed, I just never destroyed it because it hadn't created any hope. But now that it has you all can now taste sweet despair." Monokuma opened his mouth and placed the laptop in it. His jaws began to open and close rapidly, shredding the laptop in the process. Bits and pieces flew everywhere, one bounced off my face but I didn't care. Alter Ego was bright symbol of hope that had been turned into a dark moment of despair.

After Monokuma finished there was a long moment of silence and confusion. The others didn't know the significance of the laptop so they didn't know that it was our most likely chance at escape. That was going to be a fun conversation later, but that's a problem for later.

"Now that we've taken care of that pesky AI and I have all of you here, I might as well introduced the next motive. This might come as a shock to you all but you have been missing something your entire stay here. What, you may ask. I'm only too happy to answer, memories of course. I will randomly select one of you and that person's memories will be restored. A gift from me to you." Monokuma said it like he didn't have an ulterior motive. But whenever you deal with Monokuma there's always a catch. This catch however, I don't know what it is. But I have to find out soon or someone will die.


	23. Chapter 4: You're Only Human Part 4

**That awkward moment when you realize you haven't updated for months. Sorry about that, it just slipped my mind when some major things happened at once. But without further ado Part 4 of You're Only Human.**

"What's the catch." I accused Monokuma.

"Catch, I don't think I have a catch. Well, unless you count on the extra package that comes with your memories." Monokuma said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my suspicion and anxiety growing.

"You'll find out eventually, bye." Monokuma disappeared back into the stage. Silence followed his departure, but it wouldn't last for long. I could already hear the other's questions building up. I tried to speak but Kagura put her hand onto my shoulder and shook her head.

"What just happened? What did Monokuma just ate?" Milo asked, his confusion and fear evident in his tone. Soon they all began to surround me and Kagura, asking question after mounting question while Sayu just stayed off to the side looking disappointed and a little worried.

"Please calm down, panicking won't help us right now and it's just what Monokuma wants." I tired to say over the bombardment of questions.

"Guys, I think we owe Kouki a moment of silence to explain himself." Alyara said.

"Alright, but just so we can get a clear explanation." Milo said.

"Okay, the laptop that you saw Monokuma ate contained an advanced A.I. program called Alter Ego. That program was hacking the system that runs this prison but before that it related information concerning our situation. I guess I should start at the beginning..." I began to explain the Tragedy. About our entire world descended into chaos, how it's burning right now and we have no home left. Then I explained the part about Ultimate Despair, I explained that humans were able to commit vile and horrendous deeds. That they were the ones responsible for our world being destroyed and trapping us in a sick and twisted killing game, I didn't mention the fact that one of them was hiding amongst us. We already be panicked and divided after this news, I don't want to cause more damage.

Then I told them about the truth behind Hope's Peak and Rising Angel, the truth about these schools were no better than Ultimate Despair. As I explained the experiments conducted by Rising Angel I saw everyone's face turn extremely pale, even Kagura who already knew all this. Silence followed my explanation, a mix of anger, betrayal and shock. Sayu walked out of the gym followed quickly by Ramos and Dawson. Milo began to walk out when he stopped and turned around.

"I really thought you were my friend, I told you my secret and we trusted each other. Turns out I was an idiot, we deserved to know Kouki." His footsteps echoed throughout the gym as he walked out. That left Cleo staring at me with a stormy expression.

"He's right, we thought you were our friend and friends don't keep information about our families from each other. You knew I had sisters, a life outside of this killing game but you didn't think to tell me. I HAD A RIGHT TO KNOW!" Cleo yelled.

"Cleo, you need to calm down." Kagura said.

Cleo looked like she was ready to fight but she looked at Alyara's frightened expression and she began to calm down.

"Just give me time to think." She said as she marched out of the gym.

"They're right, I should have told them earlier. I'm such an idiot." I said, despair threatening to claim me.

"I'm not going to pretend that I'm not mad, I am. But you have your reasons and you wanted to protect us, I get that. We all just need time to process this, I'm sure this will calm down." Then Alyara left, leaving just Kagura with me.

"I think you need time to process this stuff as well, come on I'll take you to your room." Kagura grabbed my arm, lifted me up and began to drag me away. I didn't even resist or walk with her, I was just a human rag doll. Finally we got to my room and Kagura dragged me onto my bed

She began to leave but I quickly said "Please don't leave." and she stopped and sat down on the chair next to my bed.

"One of the main reasons I haven't gone insane is because of you guys ad the possibility of escape. Now I've lost one and destroyed the other."I said, rolling onto my side.

"Sounds to me like you made a mistake, sounds like you're human. Friendships are about taking the good and the bad but still giving companionship when the other needs it. Sure there's going to be bumps in the road but if you both learn from the mistake, heal and reconcile, you'll be better for it." Kagura said. And with those comforting words I slowly drifted off to sleep.

I awoke with a headache and I groaned as I lifted myself off the bed. Kagura just woke up and found me staring at her.

"I should go, don't want rumors to start." She said and then left. I reluctantly got ready for the day and left my room. I entered the cafeteria to find all activity had stopped so I somewhat awkwardly made my way to the buffet and piled on some food. I then sat down at a table that didn't have anyone at it. I began to eat when I noticed a shadow looming over me, I turned around to find Kagura and Cleo.

"Kagura told me what happened after I left and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you that far and it was selfish of me to assume that you weren't affected. I'm sorry." She said.

"Cleo, you have nothing to be sorry for. I should have told you sooner and you were right to be mad." I said.

"Even so, I'd like to try and make amends. Starting by having breakfast with you." She said and sat down next to me. As if that was a signal that everything was going to be okay, everyone started to move into my general area. All except Milo and Alyara, who just ate their food and cleaned their dishes.

"Give them some time, some don't heal as quickly as others." Kagura placed a reassuring hand onto mine.

The day proceeded with activities designed to help rebuild broken bonds. And by the end of it we were laughing and joking like nothing had ever changed. I walked back to my room alone and I laid down on my bed to take a quick nap and my eyes snapped shut.

Some time later my doorbell was rung so I got up to answer it. I opened the door to find a letter lying on the ground, I picked it up and read.

 _Kouki, I'm in a bit of a situation right now. I need your help in the storage room_

 _\- Kagura_

Without hesitation I rushed to the storage room and barged right in. I saw on the floor was a massive pool of blood I looked up further and I saw a body on the ground. But something was different about it, the body was masked. Suddenly a sharp pain erupted from from my shoulder as a warm liquid ran down my back. I was then thrown against several storage racks, hitting my head in the process. My vision became blurry and unfocused as a person stood over me, holding a bloody object. Darkness began to claim my vision as I felt more of the warm liquid collect beneath me and spread out on the floor. I realized that I was bleeding and if someone didn't help me soon I might bleed to death. However the darkness claimed me as my eyes slowly drifted close, the person then left the room with the bloody object.


	24. Chapter 4: You're Only Human Part 5

**Kagura's POV**

As I entered my room I immediately had a bad feeling, but I couldn't tell on what. But it was a familiar feeling, a feeling I haven't felt since the day my dad went to work and never came back. I tried to sleep but I kept tossing and turning and the room felt like it was suffocating me. And since I was under Monokuma's "care" I decided to get out of my room. When I entered the hall I saw something small and white on the floor in front of Kouki's door. It was a note and while I shouldn't be snooping around in Kouki's business, every instinct in my body told me to read it.

The second I was finished reading I broke into a lightning fast run towards the storage room. I didn't even slow down to open the door, I just threw it open and rushed in. The sight that greeted was a horrifying one, two bodies with blood collecting on the floor. One of those bodies was Kouki, whom I rushed to and checked his pulse. He had a faint pulse and it was getting fainter by the second, there was nothing she could do for the second body because it had a knife plunged into it's heart.

"Attention Rising Angel students, a body has been discovered. You may begin your investigation now, I would say more but the studio doesn't want to pay me more money. Wait, I'm not in a video game right now so I shouldn't have a voice actor. You should go looking for the dead body while I solve this existential crisis." Monokuma said while on the monitor.

I grabbed Kouki and lifted him off the floor, carrying him out of the room. I passed Alyara in the hall, who promptly stopped right in front of me.

"What the hell is going on!?" Alyara asked, her eyes wide looking at the limp body of Kouki.

"I don't have time to explain anything right now, all I can say is that if we don't get Kouki to the Nurse's office he will die." I said as I began to sprint again, Alyara struggling to keep up.

"What do you need me to do?" Alyara asked.

"I need you to wake Sayu and Cleo, get them to the nurse's office and tell them it's a medical emergency. Don't tell them's it's Kouki or about the dead body in the storage room or that Kouki's been attacked. After you've done that temporarily seal the storage room so the investigation doesn't start while Kouki is in critical condition." I answered.

"Wait, there's a body in the storage room. You know what I expect an explanation later just get Kouki to the nurse's." Alyara rushed down the hallway towards the dorm rooms while I carried Kouki to the nurse's, not caring about the extreme aches and fatigue I was feeling.

I charged into the nurse's office to find a surprising amount of medical supplies. And it wasn't just bandages, there were blood packets and surgical equipment. I placed Kouki on the nearest bed and started gathering supplies I thought would help. Suddenly Cleo and Sayu bursted in.

"Get out, right now you won't be able to help him. You'll just have to wait outside." Cleo said. So I was ushered out and forced to wait outside while who knows what happened to Kouki. After what felt like days but was probably hours Cleo emerged from the office.

"He's stable but non responsive." Cleo said.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means that as of this moment he's in a coma." Cleo answered.

"At least he's alive, so it can only get better from here. That's my hope." Kagura said.

"You still have hope? I wouldn't if I was in your situation, guess that means I admire you." Alyara said.

"I hate to bring this up but Kouki was attacked and from what Alyara told me we have a dead body so I would recommend a guard for Kouki." Cleo suggested.

"I'll do it, you and Sayu are needed for the investigation. My talent isn't needed." Alyara said.

"You're always needed Alyara but thank you, you're a true friend." I said. Cleo looked around and then stepped back in the Nurse's office, she emerged from the room moments later looking concerned.

"Where's Sayu?" She asked.

"I have a good guess where she is." I said.

* * *

I found Sayu squatting in front of the body, a mask in one hand while the other examined the body's wrists.

"Who?" I asked, not wanting to know but needing to know in order to save everyone else.

Sayu moved aside and Cleo gasped, I just stood there starring at the face of another lost friend. The face of Dawson Tall looked up at mine with a terrified and surprised expression frozen on it. I knelt down and closed his eyes, hopefully that gave him some peace.

"I guess Dawson wasn't tall enough to overcome this challenge." Monokuma said, popping out of nowhere.

"Just hand over the Monokuma file over." I said, tired of the teddy bear's games. Suddenly my Ephone buzzed, receiving the file.

"The things I do for you kids and you have the nerve to be disrespectful to me." Monokuma said, looking offended.

"As far as I know there are no rules for respecting you, so if you don't mind we have to solve a friends murder." I said, inches away from kicking Monokuma in the lower region.

"Fine, I have executions to plan anyways." Monokuma then disappeared, back to whatever hole he crawled out of.

 **Monokuma File has been added to Truth Bullets**

"Sayu, I need you to tell us everything you've discovered about Dawson's body." I said. She looked up from here Ephone.

"Right now I can't tell you much except what's in the file." She said.

"What does that mean?" Cleo asked.

"I haven't formulated a solid conclusion yet." Sayu then left, leaving an air of mystery behind. I pulled out my Ephone and began to look through it but Cleo placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you sure you should be doing this, you didn't get that much sleep and you got up at an early time. Then you found Kouki lying in a pool of blood, it's been a long day for you. Maybe you should rest for a bit." Cleo suggested.

"That's exactly why I need to solve this, for Dawson and Kouki." I said, then I opened the Ephone and accessed the Monokuma file.

 **Subject: Dawson Tall**

 **Cause of Death: Single stab wound to the heart**

 **Notes: No signs of struggle or poison detected in his system**

"At least it gives me a place to start." I said. I checked Dawson's body and the information I gathered. Everyone else burst in and then chaos ensued, with accusations and yelling being thrown into the air.

"Everybody calm down!" I yelled over the chaos. And they stopped talking and they all turned their heads in my direction. Suddenly I felt like I was speaking to a stadium packed full of people.

"How did you find the body?" I asked, hoping to get some useful info.

"I didn't know the body was here, I was just following Milo...oh my god..." Ramos approached Dawson's body and knelt down.

"Do we have any suspects?" He said, never taking his eyes off of Dawson.

"No, I'm still investigating." I answered. Ramos got up and left the room. Milo stood their standing over Dawson's body and left too. I began to examine Dawson's body again in case I missed something.

I notice a distinct lack of finger prints on the knife currently in Dawson's heart. Blood is still wet so Dawson hasn't been dead for that long, an hour at most. Not enough to get rid of all the evidence but enough to make any investigation difficult. There appears to be no sign of struggle which means he knew the attacker giving them the element of surprise or he was drugged then killed. Seeing as how the Monokuma file says there are no drugs in his system this theory seems unlikely.

I then noticed a smell that hung in the air, a familiar smell. Then it hits me, I used to smell this scent on Katsu all the time but I've also smelled it before somewhere else.

 **Clean Knife has been added to the Truth Bullets**

 **Speculation of Time of Death has been added to the Truth Bullets**

 **Lack of Signs of Struggle has been added to the Truth Bullets**

 **Lack of Drugs in body has been added to the Truth Bullets**

 **Strange Scent has been added to the Truth Bullets**

I noticed something else weird about Dawson, he was wearing different clothes. Normally this wouldn't be strange but the clothes were pitch black. And I couldn't tell it was Dawson because he was wearing a mask. And there's a pool of blood underneath him and it's soaked into the shirt so it's unlikely that they were switched.

 **Strange Clothes has been added to the Truth Bullets**

 **Blood Pool has been added to the Truth Bullets**

I turned around and examined the mess from Kouki's attack. There was a fairly large pool of blood but not enough to cause any serious problems with Kouki. However if I hadn't found him we would have two murders right now. Judging from the wound on Kouki the attacker had rage, enough to kill someone. But that raises a question, why isn't Kouki dead? The killer had an opportunity to kill Kouki because I wasn't there yet, it doesn't make sense.

 **Murder Attempt has been added to the Truth Bullets**

Deciding that I had found all the evidence in the storage room I went to Kouki's room in order to pick up the note that caused him to got to the storage room. I didn't find the note anywhere in the dorm area and panic began to grip me. I need that piece of evidence so I began searching everywhere and I finally ended up in the cafeteria. I walked into the kitchen and began to search the trash bins but I didn't have to search for long because I found the note partially burnt in the trash bin next to the oven.

It was still legible despite the burn damage, the killer must have retrieved the note while I was rescuing Kouki and attempted to burn it. Something must have interrupted them because the note isn't completely burnt. And it looks like some of the soot got on the killer's clothes because it looks like they tried to wipe away their finger prints by shaking the soot off but in doing that some of the soot collected on their clothes. And since no one else has used fire in the kitchen recently this will give me a huge hint towards the killer's identity.

I heard foot steps as a person entered the cafeteria so I turn around to find Ramos standing in the eating area.

"Everywhere I turn I see something that reminds me of Dawson." Ramos said.

"You two were close? Dating even?" I asked.

"We hand something, not sure what it was. Now I'll never know." He responded.

"Did he ever mention anything that could be connected to his death? Anything at all?" I asked him, looking for any information that could shed more light on this case.

"No, all we ever did was watch movies and talk about what we would do once we got out of here. He had sisters that he desperately wanted to see again, apparently he was very distant from them and he wanted to patch up their relationship. He got very depressed after Monokuma destroyed Alter Ego, said it was his only chance at seeing his sisters again. I tried to comfort him but he just walked away, later he told me he wouldn't be able to watch movies with me last night because he was going to hand out with some of the others." Ramos replied.

"Did he say who?" I asked, suspicion oozing of his words.

"No, all he said was that they could give him hope again." Ramos said.

"Thank you foe telling me this and don't worry, we're going to catch Dawson's killer." I reassured him.

"Attention Rising Angel students, I'm bored. So I've decided that since everyone is confused and angry that this is the best time to start the trial." Monokuma said as he appeared on the monitor.

"Guess we better go." Me and Ramos left the cafeteria and ran into Cleo and Milo. Milo looking like he just fought someone and Cleo looking like she just went through several rounds of boxing. Her eyes darted on Ramos and Milo and gave me a message.

 _"Help me!"_

The five of us went to the velvet red doors where everyone else was waiting, even Alyara.

"What about Kouki?" I asked.

"Monokuma forced me out, said I had to be at the trial." Alyara said, guilt oozing in her voice. The velvet doors opened and we walked inside but I hesitated. IT was weird and worry some without Kouki by my side but I have to go on. All our fates are on the line.

I stepped onto the elevator and felt it descend into the trial room.


	25. Chapter 4: You're Only Human Part 6

"Oh how it pains me to have you guys back in the trial room but someone broke the rules so they must pay. I don't need to recap the rules so begin when you're ready." Monokuma said as he sat on his throne overlooking the trial room.

"Where do we even begin? We don't have any suspects." Alyara said with must make logical conclusions here or we will all die." I responded.

"So then let's get started, Kouki's attack has something to do with this murder I'm sure of it." Alyara said.

"Then let's go over both incidents and see where the connections lie. Dawson was killed before Kouki arrived, that much I'm sure." I began.

"You discovered Kouki first then saw Dawson's body, right?" Alyara asked.

"Yeah, I found him lying in a pool of his own blood. His wound is consistent with that of a kitchen knife." I said, struggling not to breakdown at the memory of Kouki lying on the floor looking dead.

"And that's when you noticed Dawson's body, triggering the body discovery announcement." Alyara supplied.

"Kagura counts as one of the body witnesses, it would be logical to assume Kouki is another. But that leaves one other person who saw the body, and they aren't the murderer. Maybe an accomplice." Sayu theorized.

"It might not be an accomplice, it could be that this witness is very close to the killer and doesn't want them to die." Cleo said.

"Shut up, only someone who's a monster would do something like this! And only a coward wouldn't come forward with everything that they know!" Ramos yelled.

"Calm down Ramos, you're letting your personnel feelings get in the way. Any mistake at any point in this trial will get us all killed." I attempted my best at calming Ramos down.

"You don't get to talk to me about being calm, someone in this room killed Dawson and I am going to find out who if it's the last thing I do." Ramos glared around the room, paranoid of everyone.

"Me, of all people should know how it feels to be like you after losing someone you care about. I saw Kouki lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, for a few minutes he was dead for all I knew. And now he's in a coma, I don't even know if he'll wake up. I want to find out who did it, but I'm not going to throw every ones lives away by making wild accusations. Dawson would not have wanted you to throw your life away." I retaliated.

"I..I..you're right, I just don't know what to do without him." Ramos hung his head, an awkward silence fell over the room.

"For now, let's assume nothing about the missing witness, either through coercion or something else they've refused to step forward. We can come back to it later but right now we need to recap the whole thing." Sayu said.

"After that I just rushed to the Nurse's office, carrying Kouki. I ran into Alyara walking about and I told her to wake Sayu and Cleo, to help with stabilizing Kouki. They came and told me to get out of the office. I waited and some time passed before they emerged from the room and told me Kouki had fallen into a coma. I then went about collecting evidence but I'll save what I found for later." I said.

"We should probably add Alyara to the list of suspects since being up and about at that hour is a bit suspicious." Sayu said.

"I agree." Cleo agreed.

"Fine but I would like to know what happened during Kouki's surgery. We need all information in this case." Alyara responded.

"Unsurprisingly Kouki almost didn't make it, he ad lost a lot of blood and the tools we had on hand were less than adequate." Sayu began.

"Luckily there were some blood packets on hand, we were able to stabilize his condition with those. If they weren't there he wouldn't have survived." Cleo finished.

"Even those were almost not enough, several surgery mistakes almost cost Kouki his life." Sayu stated.

"What does that mean?" I questioned.

"Cleo made several mistakes that could have killed him if I had not noticed would have killed him." Sayu explained.

"I was in an emotional distress and someone had just died, so forgive me for making a few mistakes." Cleo said.

"A few mistakes! Those almost cost Kouki his life." Ramos said, barely keeping his anger in check.

"I'm not proud of what I did and I'll find some way to make up for it." Cleo responded.

"Interesting, well I think we can move on." Sayu said.

"What else is there to talk about, nothing about that conversation gave any hints about who the killer is except make Alyara a suspect. And I don't think she did it, that would be out of her character." Milo finally spoke, though he had his head turned and he was looking at the ground.

"Then let's go over Dawson's body, that might give us a hint to the killer's identity." I suggested.

"Alright, it says here that Dawson was killed with a single stab to the heart." Alyara said.

"Maybe he was drugged, killed and dragged to the spot where his body was at the time of its discovery." Ramos suggested.

"Not likely, the Monokuma File has stated that there were no drugs in his system and my investigation of his body further backed up that." I shot down that statement.

"Okay but he still could have been killed elsewhere." Ramos responded.

"The evidence suggests that he was killed in the storage room. Dawson's clothes were soaked from his own blood, there was a pool of blood beneath him. And there are no drag marks in the blood. All this would suggest that Dawson bled out in the storage room." I said.

"The killer could have moved all that evidence from the original murder site and cleaned up any evidence of their tampering." Cleo responded.

"Not in the amount of time they had. By examining the body I was able to estimate the time of death to be around an hour, give or take a couple of minutes. They had other evidence to dispose of in that time and blood is really hard to clean up. In all likelihood the killer did not move or clean up most of the evidence in the storage room." I explained.

"Wait, what other evidence was destroyed or tampered with?" Cleo asked.

"Earlier a note was placed in front of my door, I saw it and that's what caused me to go the storage room. Later, when I was looking for evidence I found the note burnt. But not completely, which suggests that the killer was interrupted while burning it." I said.

"That could be anyone, I interrupted Cleo and Sayu to help you and Kouki. Not to mention the investigation." Alyara said.

"We're going around in the circles here, I don't know about you guys but I really don't want to find out if there's a time limit." Cleo said.

"Milo has been noticeably quite" Ramos observed.

"Shut up Ramos." Milo responded.

"I didn't want to say anything because I was threatened but if I don't we'll all die. I found Milo disposing of black clothes during the investigation time and he threatened to kill me if I told anyone what I saw, then Ramos comes in looking like he'll beat someone to death and he began to argue with Milo. I tried to get away but they both spotted me and demanded I stay." Cleo revealed.

"Wait, hold on! It's not like that." Milo tried to defend himself.

"Here is the black clothing I found on him." Ramos produced a set of black clothing.

"But why would Milo kill Dawson, he has no motive." Alyara pointed out.

"Are you forgetting Monokuma's motive? He said he would restore lost memories, something could have happened between Dawson and Milo and we wouldn't know about it." Ramos replied.

"Lets' not jump to conclusions just yet, by your description of the motive anyone is still a suspect." I defended Milo.

"Why are you defending Milo, he's obviously the killer and Kouki's attacker. You should be proving he's the killer." Cleo questioned.

"I don't think he's the killer, it doesn't fit him. He was friends with Kouki and while I think he was angry at Kouki for keeping Alter Ego from the rest of the group he would never kill a friend." I replied.

"Then we should move on, both sides will need to present evidence that will shatter any doubt about Milo's innocence or he is guilty." Says stated.

"Alright, let's go over the murder weapon. A single knife from the kitchen. What's strange about this is that there are no fingerprints on the knife, most of the previous murder attempts have left fingerprints on the murder weapon." I said.

"Why is that, skin has oil on it. That's what leaves a fingerprint no matter what." Alyara questioned.

"There are a lot of ways one can get rid of fingerprints, you can wipe it off said object or they ultized something that controlled the knife." Sayu said.

"I don't think any of those ways were used, I found no evidence. I think the reason why there were no fingerprints on the knife is that the hand was being covered by a glove, specifically a black one. The only black glove that I know of is the one associated with these black clothes that Dawson and Milo apparently wore. Meaning there is a third person who has black clothes." I said.

"But Milo is the only one left alive who wore the black clothes, he has to be the killer." Cleo said.

"Not nesscarily, I talked with Ramos during the investigation. He said he talked to Dawson the night he was murdered, Dawson said he was going to meet people who could give him hope. The way Dawson said it, it sounds like he was meeting more than one person. Milo is just one person." I responded.

"Yeah but it won't change the fact that most of the evidence points to Milo at least being present for the death of Dawson." Ramos stated.

"What about our missing witness, Milo could be it." Sayu said.

"There is one way we can prove which person Milo is, the killer or witness." I said.

"I don't deserve your help, I deserve your hate." Milo muttered.

"Milo I believe your innocent and I think I know why your acting like this but I need to prove your innocence or all our friends will die, including Kouki. I need you to help me." I muttered back.

"Remember that note I talked about earlier, I found it partially burnt. The rest of it was partially crumbled, likely the result of burning the note. The killer likely was destroying the evidence during the investigation time. If Sayu were to examine Milo's gloves she would either find ash or not." I said.

"I trust Sayu." Alyara said.

"She hasn't done anything to break our trust in her yet." Ramos added.

Sayu walked over to Milo and ordered him to take his gloves out. He took out his hands from his pant's pockets, he was wearing the gloves. Sayu studied Milo's gloves for a few minutes, turning them over every so often.

"There's no ash on his gloves, but I did notice something else. Milo, please remove your gloves." Sayu said. Milo did just that and everyone saw faded red splotches.

"This has to prove Milo is the killer." Cleo said.

"Yeah, I recognize blood stains from my boxing days. Those are blood stains, Dawson's blood stains." Ramos agreed with Cleo.

"If Milo is the killer and he didn't burn the note then who did? Our mysterious witness?" Alyara speculated.

"I think I know who our mysterious witness is,it's you Milo isn't it." I said.

"What does that mean? He has blood on his hands, what other explanation for that is other than him being the killer." Cleo said.

"There's blood on his hands yes, but only on his hands. If he were the killer then his gloves would be soaked in blood, not his hands. And Milo would have to wear his gloves in order for the knife to lack fingerprints. But there is blood on his hands so he must have taken them off before he attacked someone, I believe he's Kouki's attacker. It would make sense, Kouki is a very close friend so Milo wouldn't be able to kill him. But he also was sensitive to betrayal so he would have the rage to attempt murder. His hesitance and rage clashed, leading to several mistakes like not wearing gloves and waiting till the last minute to clean the blood on his hands. He's our witness and he knows who killed Dawson." I said. The room filled with silence, everyone processing the new information.

"Gah, she's right. As much as I don't want to admit it, I was wrong. The logic and evidence doesn't add up for for Milo being the killer." Ramos said.

"Then Milo knows who the killer is, he has to tell us." Alyara said.

"I can't, I can't condemn another friend to death." Milo said.

"Coward, you condemned Dawson to death but you won't deliver justice to his killer!" Ramos yelled.

"Dawson wasn't supposed to die, he was our friend. He didn't betray us, Kouki did. Kouki was our target, he was supposed to die for what he did. He betrayed my trust by not telling us about our way out, about Alter Ego. Dawson was onboard because Alter Ego meant he could have seen his sisters again but because Kouki did tell us, Alter Ego was destroyed. And then Dawson died and Kouki fell into a coma, and I feel guilty for both things. I can't decide whether to serve justice or to kill a friend, please leave me alone." Milo said.

"Hey Alyara, you said earlier that you interrupted me and Cleo. Can you describe what happened when you did?" Sayu asked.

"What? Why would you asked that out of the blue?" Alyara asked, surprised at the sudden request.

"Just do it." I said.

"Okay, I saw Sayu sitting in the kitchen sitting in the cafeteria. She was sipping some hot chocolate, I made myself known and Sayu acknowledged me. Cleo shot up from under the kitchen window and counter. She looked surprised to see Sayu there but that quickly disappeared when I mentioned Kouki needed help. Cleo rushed out of the cafeteria, she looked worried. " Alyara said.

Wait a minute, being in the kitchen, the constant accusations, the surgery mistakes, the sudden revelation of Milo's black clothes followed with an accusation of him being the killer. It all makes sense.

"Cleopatra Davis, you're the killer!" I accused Cleo of being the killer.

"W-What? How can you say that after everything I've done." Cleo responded to the accusations.

"Simple, all the evidence points to you. During the trial you've been constantly accusing Milo as the killer, that in itself is not suspicious but it does peak my interest. Then you brought up the fact that Milo has black clothes out of nowhere, you didn't tell us at the beginning and immediately went to trying to turn everyone against Milo. Also the surgery mistakes made on Kouki were a little suspicious, especially the frequentcy at you made them. Even if your emotions were causing you to make mistakes you wouldn't have made that much or you would have put them aside to help Kouki. Sayu said that the mistakes you made would have gone unnoticed if she hadn't spotted them and corrected them, an experienced surgeon like yourself would never have let them slip by. And then there's the fact that you were in the kitchen, you were shocked to see Sayu there. Now that alone is nothing to be suspicious of but I found the note in the kitchen partially burnt and hot. Meaning that it was burnt recently, if you have nothing to hide then you won't mind showing your hands or gloves to Sayu." I said.

"I...I...hehehe. HAHAHAHAHA." Cleo broker down into a fit of laughter, her eyes transforming into a completely different person. They were the eyes of someone who wanted to watch the world.

"W-What's going on here, please stop laughing." Alyara demanded.

"I can't, it took you this long to figure it out and you're still in denial. It's just so funny, Hahahaha." Cleo said.

"Why is she like this now, she was fine a moment ago. " Ramos said, trying hard to hide the fear within in him.

"She wasn't fine a moment ago, she hasn't been fine since Monokuma used the motive on her. " Sayu stated.

"That's right, from the moment Monokuma returned my memories I've been plotting to kill someone and manipulate everyone into voting wrong so I can watch everyone die horrible deaths." Cleo said joyfully.

"Her missing memories must have something to do with her mental state, she probably had a psychotic break but she reverted to her previous state when her memories were wiped. Only to return to her psychotic state when her memories were restored." I said.

"Right again, let me tell you a story. A year and a couple of months ago a group called Ultimate Despair stormed the school, killed most of the students and teachers before they selected us to be the participants in this killing game. They held us at a secret facility and when the Tradgedy was in full swing they transported us back to the school for the game to begin, I managed to escape and made my back home to my family. When I got there I discovered there mutilated beyond the point of recognition, my sisters were raped, burned, tortured, beaten and killed in manners that still make my blood boil. I went insane that day and Ultimate Despair found me shortly after. Guess I made a good impression because they decided to use me as the motive and the killer." Cleo said.

"I'm sorry about what happened Cleo to your family but it doesn't excuse what you did, you know what's about to happen." I said.

"Of course, but maybe you should recap for those suffering emotional distress right now." Cleo suggested.

"Here's what happened: _Monokuma revealed the existence of Alter Ego, a computer program with the potential to help us escape. He destroyed it and left us to wallow in despair. We started turning on each other because some of us kept the existence of Alter Ego a secret, this caused anger among some of us. But that wasn't Monokuma's motive, his motive was to restore the memories of a specific person. With her memories and psychotic state restored Cleo immediately went about setting up a murder, she took advantage of the anger caused over Alter Ego's destruction and directed it towards Kouki. However just as Kouki's murder was about to commence, Dawson backed out. Likely the result of his growing feelings for Ramos and not wanting him to die. Cleo killer him in order to prevent him from revealing her plans and the part she played in them, much to the shock and horror of Milo. Taking advantage of his conflicting feelings Cleo manipulated Milo to continue with the plan while tried to destroy the evidence. Milo attacked Kouki but backed out at the last minute, leaving Kouki severely injured but alive. Milo was in such a state of shock about what he had just done and witnessed as well as his immense guilt over his part in hit that he got sloppy, leading to some evidence surviving. I discovered Kouki shortly after his attack and I rushed him to the nurse's office with Alyara getting help. She found both Sayu and Cleo in the cafeteria, Cleo was destroying some evidence while Sayu was gathering some by observing Cleo. When Cleo learned of Kouki's survival she rushed out of the cafeteria intending to finish the job, however she left behind the note that while partially burnt was still readable. This also left ash on her hands, which would come in handy later. She did her best to kill Kouki subtly but Sayu was there to prevent his death, panicking she forced Milo to begin disposing of their black clothes. But Ramos walked in on them, thinking quickly she placed suspicion on Milo by claiming she had found him with the black clothes. Ramos, blind with rage believed her. She then entered the trial intending to place all the blame and evidence on her accomplice, Milo._ " I explained.

"Bravo, bravo you did excellent Kagura. Monokuma if you will." Cleo said.

"Your wish is my command." Monokuma pulled a lever and a giant lottery machine popped out of the ground. We voted and the lottery machine spun, all three slots landed on the face of Cleo.

"One more thing before I'm dragged off to my execution, I'm not the Ultimate Despair traitor hiding amongst you." A chain shot out from the curtains and dragged Cleo away.

 **Game Over**

 **Cleopatra Davis has been found guilty.**

 **Time for the punishment!**

 **Bred in the Wild**

 ** _Cleo is hung by chains above a water tank, a crocodile is released into the tank. It looks around hungrily and it spots Cleo, she begins to be slowly lowered into the tank. The crocodile swims around happily in anticipation of its next meal. Cleo is submerged into the tank, the crocodile swims towards her. It sniffs her and swims away, Monokuma is above the tank and looks disappointed. He pulls a lever and piranhas are released into the tank, the water quickly turns blood red. A few minutes later several human bones surface with Monokuma chuckling._**

We were escorted to the elevator a few minutes later, and we ascended in silence.

Alyara leaned over and asked. "Ultimate Despair traitor?"

"Later." I replied, I had somewhere else to be. The walk over to the nurse's office was silent except for my beating heart. I entered the room and saw Kouki was awake and it looked like he was expecting me.

"Hey" we both said before we started kissing, which then turned into a full on make out session before turning into...well I should probably spare the details since there might be kids reading this but I'll just say it was great.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Surviving Students: 7**

 **Kouki Yoshi: Alive**

 **Alyara Sardonyx: Alive**

 **Mikio Kilkumori: Desceased**

 **Serra Raven: Alive**

 **Ramos Luciano: Alive**

 **Milo Karrick: Alive**

 **Cleopatra Davis: Deceased**

 **Megan Winslow: Deceased**

 **Katsu Gekai: Deceased**

 **Kagura** **Miyamoto: Alive**

 **Sayu Akizuki: Alive**

 **Axel Takashima: Deceased**

 **William Gerardo: Deceased**

 **Aima Jespersen: Deceased**

 **Dawson Tall: Deceased**

 **Kumo Yomohiro: Deceased**


	26. Chapter 5: Brave New World Part 1

"So that really happened?" I asked Kagura, still not believing the details of the latest murder and trial. We were in the cafeteria eating breakfast after last night's events, I was forced to eat pudding and jello because everyone was worried that I was not strong enough to handle solid food so soon after my attack.

"Yeah, Cleo was one of the best. Helping us with the murders and believing in us, and now she's dead and insane." Kagura responded, looking off into the distance.

"Monokuma and this twisted game, it's taken the lives of too many good people. There must be a way out, and if there isn't we'll make one." I said.

"But from what Cleo said there isn't much of the world left out there, our families are probably dead. I know life is hell in here but I can't see an improvement out there." Kagura said, now looking guiltily down at her food.

"Hope can rise from just about anything, it can rise from a destroyed world or a high school of despair. We can make hope from anything, our relationship should show everyone of this." Kouki reassured Kagura.

Suddenly the doors to the cafeteria opened and the rest of our friends walked into the room. With the recent murder case our numbers were low, when we started the game we had 16 friends. Now less than half of us remain. They were all chatting like nothing was wrong but you could see it in there eyes, loss and sadness. This game will end soon, I just hope I can end it on our terms.

"Attention, attention. I'd like all remaining students to report to the gym for a very special announcement." Monokuma appeared on nearby monitors, informing us of what is about to happen. Everyone got up and left the cafeteria, leaving their food behind.

When we entered the gym we saw that Monokuma was already on the stage, its head tilted downwards staring at the floor. We got closer to the stage and we heard a crack, Monokuma's red eye got brighter. Its head lifted slowly upwards and stared at us.

"Seeing all of you makes my heart shine brighter, if I had a heart that is. Now I've had some time to reflect and I've realized something, there are hardly any of you left. And that won't do, we need so many of you to make the game interesting. So I've decided to let you all go but I'm also going to milk every bit of despair left in you guys. There's a test in which if you pass you can walk out of here with enough resources to survive out in the real world for a year. However if you get one question wrong, you all die by executions." Monokuma said.

"I'll give you time to decide as a group, but this is the only time I'm offering this. The game will end either way, even if you decided to stay." Monokuma disappeared into the stage, leaving us to contemplate this new revelation.

"We can't accept, we can't trust Monokuma to honor any deal." Ramos said.

"But the world as we knew it is gone, it's a barren wasteland. We would have no future." Milo said.

"Then we make a future, so many times we've let fear and anger control us. And all it's brought is despair. It might not be the greatest but we can make it better." Kouki said.

"I don't know what the future will hold, I've never thought about much till now. But whatever happens, I'm glad to have the chance to live a normal life." Sayu said.

"My art has been my way of telling the world what I think, the hope of uniting people no matter who they may be. You guys have shown me what happens when people unite while others have shown me what happens when you fall into despair. For better or worse, I'll follow you guys to the ends of the Earth." Alyara said.

"I..I...I'm sorry Kouki!" Milo yelled, finally breaking his silence.

I just stood there, waiting for what came after. Contemplating my life up to this point.

"I attacked you with the intent to kill and I almost did. I felt betrayed and I let my anger cloud my judgment, when I was actually doing it I realized that I was killing my friend. Sure he didn't tell me about Alter Ego but he was only human, I wasn't sure what I would have done in your situation Kouki. Then I let fear control me by not telling anyone about Cleo and my involvement in the murder, I see now that by not telling you guys I was doing more damage. Whatever happens after this I going to down the road that leads to redemption, no matter how long it takes." Milo said.

"I'm not perfect, I haven't wholly forgiven you. But I'm willing to move on, for the sake of everyone here and their hopes. Monokuma, we're ready." I said.

"Oh goodie goodie, I've been watching you all this time so I know which choice you're going to make." Monokuma said, appearing from out of nowhere.

"Give us this "test" of yours" I said mockingly.

"Very well there are several questions that remain unanswered:

Who is the Creator that spins lies and falsehoods?

Who is the Wolf destined to kill the king of the gods?

Who is the traitor among you?" Monokuma once again disappeared into the the stage.

"Well, let's get started." I said.

* * *

 **Future Foundation Headquarters**

Kyousuke Munakata walked the halls of humanity's last hope in this despair filled world. Walking just behind him were his two most trusted friends, Chisa Yukizome and Juzo Sakaura. Kyousuke walked into the command center of the building.

"Status report." He ordered.

"All troops are in position, Koichi Kizakura and Kyoko Kirigiri are reporting in. We've surrounded Rising Angel." An Aide said.

"Begin the operation." Kyousuke ordered.


	27. Chapter 5: Brave New World Part 2

**Future Foundation Camp outside Rising Angel**

Koichi Kizakura was all too familiar with this situation. A group of high school students trapped in a school mean to create the next generation of the exceptional. Now here he was to rescue them again, only this time he was more prepared. Now the Future Foundation was much more prepared and much more well equipped to deal with any surprises the Remnants might have. That didn't stop the flashbacks, the smell of blood and organs spilled out on the dirt and stone, the last look on his comrades faces as well as their last words. Koichi took a quick sip from his flask to bring him back to the present. This earned him a quick glare Kyoko Kirigiri who sat across from him reading through reports on the school's defenses, she had told him time and time again not to drink on the job. But contrary to popular belief Koichi was not intoxicated all the time, he knew he needed to stay alert and ready in case anything happened. He wouldn't be able to keep his promise to Jin if he was horribly intoxicated, still it didn't hurt to put on a show. The less Kyoko liked him the more easy his death will be should it ever come to that.

"We've received word from headquarters, we're to proceed with the operation." Kyoko said.

"Well that's good, we're running out of whiskey here." Koichi responded.

Kyoko left the tent they were in and marched off to find her friends, her fellow survivors. From an outsider perspective things would be weird but the events at Hope's Peak shaped and forged them into better people. So when they greet each other it's like meeting close family members again however there's still an under current of sadness. Koichi's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden intrusion.

"Sir you need to come and see this." the man said, bursting into the tent.

"What is it now Oakley?" Koichi asked, annoyed.

"You need to come NOW!" Oakley grabbed Koichi and dragged him to another tent a couple of yards away.

What Koichi saw inside made him drop his flask.

"Tell Kyoko we're going with her plan, show her this too."

* * *

 **Inside Rising Angel**

You ever had that feeling that you're looking for something important and you don't know where it is but it's just out of reach. Multiply that by ten and you might come close to how all of us are feeling. After Monokuma told us what we had to do he shoved us down into the elevator and into the trial room. The curtains were pulled back revealing several dark hallways that seemed to go on and on, each emanating a dark sense of dread. Me and Sayu paired up and selected a random corridor to search through.

"Don't suppose you've already figured everything out by this point and will brilliantly reveal it all at the last minute." I asked her almost jokingly.

"This might come as a surprise but I don't know the answer to everything. But yes I know the answer to at least one of the questions." Sayu responded.

"Then you have to tell us, it's a matter of life and death." I said.

"You think I don't know that, I've been in this with you from the very beginning. But this is something entirely different. This entire game has made me realize that I've running from my past and that I'm tired of running. I just need time to bury what i've ignored for a long time. When that is done you'll get your answer." Sayu walked away, her footsteps barely making a sound. Still after all this time that girl is an enigma to me.

Feeling tired I leant my back against the wall for a brief second. Suddenly I heard a hiss and the next moment I was lying on the ground staring up at a grey ceiling with a single light hanging from it. My first thought was 'ouch' followed by 'I think I just found a clue'. I quickly got up and took in my new surroundings.

The room had a single metal table with a book on it. I slowly approached the table, wary of any traps set by Monokuma. I got close enough to read the title of the book, _Norse Mythology: Ragnarok_. There was a single velvet bookmark, I flipped to the page and read it. It was about Odin, the king of Asgard and strongest of the Norse gods, it says that according to the myths that Odin will be slain during Ragnarok by the wolf Fenrir.

Well at least answering one of these questions was easy, but what relevance does it have on the killing game. I left the room and returned to the court room to share what I found, Kagura was already waiting there.

"I assume you already found a secret room." I said.

"Yep." She replied. It was decided to visit the room she found, we went down another dark hallway until I saw a gap in the right wall. The room inside was also illuminated by a single lightbulb. A computer sat on another metal table with a single black chord connecting it to a hole in the wall. The computer read _Haruka Kubata_.

"This just keeps getting better." I said, trying very hard not to pull my hair out. Now we have to worry about a Haruka Kubata, was this person the traitor or the Creator of lies. Whomever this person is, someone here is using a false name. Afterwards I showed Kagura the room I found. Several more hours of searching and we never found the third room for the third question.

"A name on a computer and a book about mythology, not a lot to go on." Milo said.

"It's something, which is better than nothing." I responded.

"Yeah but what we do have might be worse than having nothing. It appears Monokuma has given us just enough information to give us hope only to realize it's not enough and so we all fall into despair." Ramos said.

"We've been given a chance here, a chance to avenge those that we've lost here and a chance to escape and live better lives. We'll take the next chance and the next until we get there or all our chances are spent." I said to everyone.

"I always liked that movie." Milo said.

Monokuma popped out of nowhere and landed on his crimson throne.

"I hope everyone is excited, this will be the last trial to ever grace this courtroom." Monokuma said.

As much as I hate to admit it the demonic teddy bear was right, for better or worse it all ends here. This trial will decide our hope and despair.

"Let's end this Monokuma." I said.


	28. Chapter 5: Brave New World Part 3

I've seen and heard many strange things in my time at Rising Angel. But I don't think I've ever heard gunfire or missiles before. Even through the thick walls of the academy I could hear a battle being waged outside.

"Hey Monokuma, what's happening outside?" I asked.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with. Now let's get to the real show here, the trial of the century." Monokuma responded. I shouldn't be surprised, since when has that teddy bear ever given us helpful information if it wasn't to benefit the killing game.

"How is this going to happen, after all this isn't a normal trial?" Milo questioned.

"The trial will proceed as any other trial, the questions as the murder victim and the answers to said questions will be the evidence." Monokuma explained.

We have three questions so I guess that means that there are three victims, but the answers to said questions are next to none.

"I think we should start off with the easiest question, the wolf one." I suggested.

"We discovered several secret rooms holding a single item pertaining to each of the questions. The room for the wolf question held a book on Norse mythology, specifically Ragnarok, the Norse version of the apocalypse. The wolf is Fenrir, son of Loki and fated to kill Odin during Ragnarok. Odin is king of Asgard and the most powerful of the Norse gods." Kagura said.

"So Fenrir is the answer, simple enough. However, what does that have anything to do with this situation?" Milo asked.

"Something, otherwise Monokuma wouldn't have even brought it up. Maybe it's a hint at his end game or the traitor's identity." I responded.

"Well what now, we don't have any answers anymore. At least, none that we can pinpoint to which question." Alyara said.

"Then we first decipher what the answers mean and then match them to the questions." I suggested.

"What answers, we only have the one and it's a name." Milo said

"Haruka Kubata, I believe." I said.

"Kubata, I've heard that name before." Kagura said.

"Can you recall anything, if you remember Kubata it can't be a coincidence. With Monokuma there are no coincidences." I said.

"I think there was a case my father was involved with. A double murder and a missing girl. My dad came home one night after being called in to help investigate a crime scene back in his final days as a rookie cop. I remember him coming home one night with a solemn look on his face, he hugged me and told me to go to bed. I did but I woke in the middle of the night so I went down to get a glass of water. I found a police file on the dining table, it was about a double murder and the disappearance of a girl. I can't begin to describe the things I saw. The police report concluded that the parents had killed their daughter and eventually killed each other afterwards. The daughter's body was never found and a couple of her things were missing. I also read in the report that she may have been sexaully and physcially abused. I had nightmares after reading the report, but my dad was there to comfort me. He said he would never be like those horrible parents." Kagura said.

"Please stop." Sayu said, looking down at the floor. I could barely see her eyes, but her eyes looked completely different than before. They looked like a person who has been eroded by time. In that moment I realized something.

"Maybe this missing daughter is the Despair traitor." Milo suggested.

"No, I don't think that's it. Isn't that right Sayu." I said.

"Yeah. Tell me something, when did you realize?" Sayu asked.

"Just now, I wouldn't have put it together without what Kagura said and your reaction." I responded.

"Honestly this isn't how I wanted things revealed, I didn't want this revealed at all." Sayu said.

"I am so lost ." Ramos said.

"Oh good, so I'm not the only one." Alyara said.

"I had a feeling this might happen, Monokuma does have a habit of revealing our secrets." Sayu said.

"Sayu, you don't have to do this." I said, trying to reassure her.

"If I don't we all die. As some of you have guessed Sayu is not my real name, my real name is Haruka Kubata." Sayu or Haruka revealed.

"My parents were absent most of my life, always off doing one thing or other. They didn't really have a marriage, it was more like a prison for everyone involved. Maybe they did love each other at one point, I'll never know. They never really paid attention to me most of the time, they never bought me clothes or food, I had to do that all by myself and when they did notice me they beat me, saying "I shouldn't be so rebellious" or "I should focus on being at the top of everything at school and not go snaking to sleep with boys.". They neighbors knew this too, they saw the signs but never did anything about it. One night they got drunk and burst into my room. They began to touch me, I told them to stop but they continued to touch me. The next thing I knew they were lying on the floor in a pool of their own blood. It all happened so fast but after all I could feel was relief and freedom. I gathered up some of my things and positioned my parents bodies in way that made it look like they murdered each other. I found a fire not far from my house and threw some things in it to make it look like my parents tried to burn the evidence of their crime away. From that day since I became someone else, I became Sayu Akizuki. And I'm sure Kagura has already figured out my occupation." Sayu said.

"It all makes sense, I read a police file on a criminal mastermind known as the Creator. You mentioned you created the identity of Sayu Akizuki, that coupled with your intelligence, deductive skills and you've just explained to us you are the Creator." Kagura concluded.

"I'm sorry, sorry that you had to live a tortured existence. Sorry that you had to kill your parents to escape." I said.

"Maybe...maybe she's the traitor." Ramos said.

"What?" I asked, surprised at this sudden accusation.

"Think about, a tortured childhood, abusive parents, kills said parents, goes on the run from the police, becomes a criminal mastermind, is vague and mysterious about her past until confronted by Monokuma, and is incredibly intelligent which means she could totally pull the killing game off." Ramos said.

"I can't believe you would say something like that, after everything we've been through together. I know she isn't the traitor, that much I am certain. In this whole crazy mess of a life we've been having I know she is not the traitor." I said.

"If you trust her then so do I." Alyara said.

"Yeah, I trust your judgment." Milo agreed.

"Look at this, you've become our hope. You've earned it." Kagura said.

"I feel like I'm going to throw up." Monokuma said.

"Yeah well you can shave that feeling all the way up your...wait." I said.

"What is it?" Kagura asked.

"Sayu is the Creator. She creates false identities, these identities are lies to those people who know them. She is the Creator of lies." I said.

"Great, that's another question answered. But, that still leaves one question left. And we don't even know if there is a traitor among us." Alyara said.

"No, there's a traitor among us. It's the kind of the thing Monokuma would do." Sayu said.

"Yeah but we never found any evidence of the traitor. And Monokuma promised he would share hints for the answers to the questions. Monokuma has cheated." Milo said.

"Did I? I seem to recall showing you the hint." Monokuma said, his voice betraying nothing.

"What do you mean?" I asked, though there was a part of me that already figured out what Monokuma meant.

"You put it together. Secret rooms, how I knew about Alter Ego, How you knew there even was a traitor among you." Monokuma said.

"No, NO! I don't believe you." I said, realizing how it all fell together.

"You're a smart boy, you know it's true." Monokuma replied.

"What's wrong, what is Monokuma talking about?" Kagura asked.

"The traitor is none other than Serra Raven." I said.

"About time somebody figured it out." Serra Raven threw open the crimson curtains behind Monokuma and calmly walked towards us all, with a smug look on her face.

"W-W-what is happening? Serra what are you doing?" Alyara asked, her breathing growing more rapidly.

"You haven't been paying attention have you. I am the Remnant of Despair." Serra said, taking up her empty space at the courtroom debate area.

"You were the one who told me about the traitor being the group in the first place, I never suspected before. You were the only one besides me and Kagura that knew about Alter Ego. When Monokuma destroyed it the bear implied that I knew about Alter Ego and the traitor, alone these two things don't mean much but together." I said, still trying process this new revelation.

"That's right my dear friends. This might be a cliche but I am author of all you pain, well most of it. I realized Kouki was becoming a beacon of hope for the group so I thought might as well mess with him. I gave him hope by telling him our friendship was real, and telling him that I came from an organization that as going to save them and the world. But caused him despair by revealing a traitor amongst the group, someone who was acting like a friend but in reality was the person causing the killing game in the first place. By telling him about Kagura not being the traitor I gave him hope, but what I wanted out of that relationship was to have both of them pull each other down into despair. I publicly revealed the existence of Alter Ego and the traitor not only as extra motivation for murder but also cause strife and despair in the group. Everything that you've done has all been part of my plan to cause despair in the group, they don't call me the Ultimate Strategist for nothing." Serra explained, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"Wait, what do mean you're not the author of all our pain? You created this killing game and forced us to participate in it." Alyara said, she looked like part of her was still in disbelief.

"I can't take all the credit for the Tragedy or the misery of the world, that honor belongs to Junko Enoshima. My life was a dull and boring mess. I lived with an international mercenary group called Fenrir, which led by my father Leonard Raven. One day we found a young woman by the name of Mukuro Ikusaba, and something in her made us take her in and train. We grew close together, I never had siblings and I was kept away from other children wanted a raise a worthy leader to Fenrir, free of worldly bonds. Eventually Junko arrived at our camp, she said Mukuro was her sister and that she needed to talk to her. They went outside the camp and I followed, I overheard them discussing how they were going to take over Fenrir and use to spread despair across the globe. They found me and Mukuro dragged me before Junko but instead of killing me she looked into my eyes. At that moment we became kindred spirits, we both found the dull and boring. See with intellect and abilities everything went according to plan, everything. Do you know how it feels for the same thing to repeat over and over and over again you entire life? I wanted something more, to feel excitement, to feel something new. Me, Mukuro and Junko became the Despair sisters, dedicated to bringing about an end to the boring world we all lived in." Serra said.

"I doubt your father approved of your new goal." Kagura said.

"That's why I killed him, and my mother. They were not expecting that, Junko was right despair is exciting." Serra answered.

"And this, the killing game. Manipulating us, that was for more despair?" I asked.

"You must know the weight Hope's Peak and Rising Angel has on the world. Even in the Tragedy everyone looks to the Ultimates for guidance and hope. Which is why Junko decided start there, bring down these schools and watch the despair spread. Junko and Mukuro started attending Hope's Peak and well I didn't lie about being a Rising Angel alumni. I knew the both school's deep dark secrets and I decided to use Rising Angel's to rally many of its students to open gates to me. You see I had become the leader of Fenrir and I became the main military force behind Ultimate Despair. Me and Junko had the brilliant idea of forcing Ultimate students into a killing game to plunge more people into despair by showing just how low symbols of hope can drop given the right incentive. So the day she blew up Hope's Peak I stormed the school with the help of the students I turned to my side, killed all the faculty and kidnapped you guys to a Fenrir base and when the time came I transported you guys back to the newly renovated Rising Angel Academy. I even killed the students who helped me because they were already in despair and wouldn't be any fun to play around with." Serra said.

"You're not human." I said.

"Just now picking up on that. I am far beyond humanity, you all are just my playthings." Serra responded.

"You think you're a god?" Kagura asked.

"Maybe I do. In any case I'm afraid our little game has come to an end. You answered all three questions. Though to be honest I wasn't expecting you guys to have figured out my role in all of this but I guess the despair inside of you all was just that unpredictable." Serra said.

"Hold on, you said we could go if we answered all your questions." Milo said.

"Heh, I lied." Serra said.

Then the entire room began to shake. I could hear things crashing and breaking, dust and stone began falling from the ceiling. The red drapes covering several hallways of the courtroom fell down as well. I heard a loud explosion in the background and suddenly...darkness.

* * *

 **POV shift: Kagura**

I slowly opened my eyes to find the courtroom destroyed, bits and pieces of circuitry and stone lay on the floor. Scorch marks and fires were spread out across the room. I slowly pushed myself up and took a look around the room. I saw Alyara, Milo, Ramos and Sayu all on makeshift beds either talking to soldiers or being inspected by a doctor.

"Hey look, the last one is up. Somebody get Kyoko." I heard a soldier say.

"Last one? What happened to Kouki? Somebody tell me WHAT HAPPENED TO KOUKI!"

* * *

 **End**

 **of**

 **Chapter**

 **5**

 ** _End_**

 _ **Killing**_

 _ **of**_

 _ **Game**_

* * *

 **Author's notes**

stick around I'm not done with this story yet.


	29. Epilogue

**POV: Kagura**

The smell of the world on fire greeted us as we were escorted out of the ruins of Rising Angel. I took one look back at the once mighty and proud school. The feelings I had about the school were complex to say the least but I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness as we made our way into the Future Foundation's camp. That school represented my old life, a life I wished to return to. But time only flows one way so I look to a future of uncertainty.

I sat down on a cot inside a grey tent, awaiting whatever or whomever came next. A young woman stepped through the tents flap holding a cup of hot chocolate.

"Thought you might need this." She said.

"Thanks." I accepted the drink, but I didn't sip anything out of it. It reminded me too much of Kouki.

The woman took notice of this but didn't say anything, of which I was grateful for.

"I understand what you're going through." She said.

"How can you? This was a unique situation." I responded.

"It's not as unique as you think. I was a victim of a similar killing game. I even made it out with my friends and...someone else. Believe me I know what you're going through." She said.

"That means you were in Junko's killing game. What happen to her?" I asked.

"She committed suicide when we showed her that we can still have hope, even after everything she put us through and what she did to the world. My name is Kyoko Kirigiri and I survived Ultimate Despair." The woman called Kyoko said.

"Serra mentioned a mercenary group called Fenrir. It seems Junko has more followers out there." I said.

"Yeah, most of them committed suicide when she did but a few like Serra decided to carry on Junko's work. With Junko and Mukuro dead, combine that with the fact that Fenrir is backing her, Serra is the most powerful and dangerous Remnant of Despair." Kyoko mused.

"And she has Kouki. Okay, I'll help you." I said.

"I had a feeling you would say that. Your friends have already signed up. I promise you, we will find Kouki." Kyoko said.

"And put an end to Serra." I said.

* * *

 **POV shift: Kouki**

The room I was in, its damp and cold. My wrist and feet were bound by steel chains to a concrete wall. The room had no source of light, which left me to my thoughts in the dark. The door slowly opened, the hinges squeaking loudly. Light poured into, I placed a hand over both my eyes to shield them from the sudden brightness.

"Just kill me." I said.

"Why would I kill you." Serra said, placing a tray of food in front of me.

"I have plans for you." She said, grinning as she looked down upon me.

* * *

 **End**

 **of**

 **Danganronpa: Return to Despair**

* * *

 **Author's notes**

This is not the end. I have planed out a trilogy, an SYOC trilogy so keep your eyes out for that. I would also like to apologize for taking so long to update and finish this story, it was never my intention to make you guys wait this long.


End file.
